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AN  HUMBLE  PLEA, 


ADDRESSED  TO  THE 


LEGISLATURE  OF  CALIFORNIA, 


IN  BEHALF  OF  THE 


IMMIGRANTS  FROM  THE  EMPIRE  OF  CHINA 

TO  THIS  STATE. 


BY  THE 

REV.  WILLIAM  SPEER. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.  : 

PUBLISHED  AT  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  ORIENTAL,  NO.  6S  MERCHANT  STREET. 
PRINTED  BY  STERETT  & CO., 

Pacific  Job  Office,  111  Washington  Street,  below  Sansome. 


1856. 


PLEA  IN  BEHALF 


OF  THE 

IMMIGRANTS  FROM  CHINA. 


To  the  Honorable  Senate  and  Assembly 

of  the  State  of  California  : 

In  despotic  countries  the  humblest  individual  is  allowed,  at  times,  to  approach 
the  sovereign.  The  sceptre  is  extended  to  him,  and  he  touches  it  and  lives.  And 
there  are  places  also  where  he  may  stand  and  wait,  with  his  private  or  public  sup- 
plication, and  cast  the  paper  at  the  royal  feet,  and  it  is  taken  up  and  considered. 
A representative  government  grants  its  meanest  citizen  an  equal  privilege.  Just  so 
far  as  it  is  a common-wealth,  aiming  to  act  for  the  general  good,  and  not  by  divine 
right,  or  for  the  benefit  of  a few,  does  it  secure,  and  respect,  and  solicit  an  expression 
of  reasonable  opinion.  There  are  circumstances  which  move  the  writer  to 
open  his  mouth , he  trusts,  without  presumption.  Ilis  sympathies  and  principles 
as  a Christian!  minister,  his  patriotism,  and  his  convictions,  stir  him.  And  not  less 
his  deep  and  heartfelt  compassion  for  a race  of  strangers,  most  strangers  in  this 
laud  where  we  all  are  strangers  ; a race  on  whom  we  have  unthinkingly  and  unkind- 
ly set  the  heel.  In  their  difficult  and  troubled  condition,  he  feels  a gratification  in 
their  resorting  to  him  as  their  “ friend.”  In  attempting  to  simply  do  them  justice, 
he  distinctly  states  that  he  leans  on  no  party,  that  he  represents  no  one  interest, 
that  he  would  aggrandize  or  injure  no  district ; but  seeks  plainly,  sincerely  and 
earnestly  to  set  forth  the  truth,  believing  that  candid  and  earnest  men  will  likewise 
hear,  and  will  give  to  the  facts  and  reasons  presented  all  that  attention  the  intrinsic 
weight  of  the  subject  deserves. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  take  a comprehensive  view  of  our  position.  A man 
that  knows  his  right  hand  from  his  left  has  certainly  been  impressed  with  the  won- 
derful history  of  this  continent.  The  inhabitants,  for  several  thousands  of  years, 
had  stood  on  the  shores  of  the  oceans  all  round  it,  like  men  at  the  foot  of  inaccess- 
ible mountains  of  sapphire.  They  saw  the  waves  on  the  horizon  like  successive 
cliffs,  whose  translucent  tops  were  surpassed  by  others  higher  and  higher  still  be- 


4 


yond.  The  vast  convexity  on  all  sides  of  it  was  not  surmounted  by  any  men  that 
returned  again,  through  all  the  ages  of  the  world’s  history,  until  a few  years  ago. 
Then  this  great,  outspread,  fertile,  glorious  land,  like  a valley  between,  was  made 
known.  The  Divine  Governor  established  in  it  a seminary,  a seed-garden,  of  new 
principles.  They  ripened,  and  floated  back  from  our  East,  and  filled  the  countries 
from  which  we  were  gathered.  And  then  we  are  suddenly  called  to  its  opposite 
limit  to  plough,  to  plant,  and  to  enrich  it  in  turn,  and,  as  the  Bible  so  beautifully 
says,  to  “ fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit.”  It  is  a stale  historical  statement, 
and  a one-half  completed  prophecy,  that  the  wonderful  nation,  of  which  we  have 
reason  for  unceasing  gratitude  to  God  that  we  are  citizens,  is  the  world’s  school- 
house.  Under  their  cover  God  teaches  some  of  all  races,  and  sends  them  home  to 
impart  again  what  they  have  learned.  If  these  old  asseverations,  that  have  rung 
around  every  academy,  court-house  and  church,  between  Maine  and  Texas,  are 
substantial,  we  occupy  a high  place  in  the  globe  and  in  time.  Then  the  discovery 
of  America,  the  landing  of  the  pilgrims,  the  declaration  of  independence,  and  the 
settlement  of  California,  must  constitute  eras  of  the  new  world’s  advancement, 
and  so  of  the  progress  of  man,  and  the  triumph  of  Christianity.  Then  future  ages 
shall  look  upon  us,  and  study  our  acts  and  characters  as  we  do  those  of  the  im- 
mortal men  that  stood  upon  the  summits  behind  us.  "Who  trembles  not  under  the 
gaze  of  millions  of  eyes  ! Who  is  not  afraid  beneath  the  scrutiny  of  the  Divine 
Being ! 

And  this  particular  question  is  one  that  above  all  others  needs  a manly,  sincere 
and  liberal  spirit  to  investigate  it.  Races  long  and  widely  separated  become  pe- 
culiar, arrogant,  and  offensive.  The  Chinese  and  ourselves,  both  in  their  country 
and  ours,  find  in  each  other’s  manners  and  conduct  much  to  ridicule  and  hate.  It 
will  be  observed  that  a large  class  on  either  hand  of  those  who  visit  the  other’s 
country  are  the  most  bitter  enemies  of  those  among  whom  they  lived.  They  have 
seen  among  them  nothing  to  esteem,  to  imitate,  or  to  adopt.  But  let  us,  boasting 
and  possessing  a real  superiority  in  genuine  civilization,  in  every  species  of  power, 
in  the  truest  refinement  of  human  nature,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  a Heaven-de- 
scended charity  and  hope  of  salvation — let  us,  gentlemen,  who  do  not  only  believe, 
but  know,  that  we  are  superiors — put  off  the  temper  of  meanness,  and  spite,  and 
selfishness,  and  bigotry.  I appeal  to  you  as  Representatives  of  an  intelligent, 
whole-souled,  progressive  people.  I appeal  to  men  that  can  conceive  the  motives, 
and  enjoy  the  expanded  hopes,  of  the  glorious  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
You  are  in  slavery  to  no  man,  to  no  doctrine,  to  no  limited  interest  of  time  and 
and  place.  If  I am  wrong  in  any  of  the  views  I shall  offer,  I desire  nothing  so 
much  as  a truthful  and  charitable  correction  of  them.  And  I confidently  expect 
that  with  a Legislature  characterized  by  so  much  intelligence  and  moral  principle 
as  the  present,  what  conclusions  are  palpably  fair  and  just  may  be  received  with  the 
honesty  and  candor  with  which  they  are  respectfully  submitted. 

THE  QUESTIONS  AT  ISSUE. 

Two  questions  come  before  your  Honorable  body  for  discussion  : first,  the  terms, 
and  second,  the  extent,  according  to  which  mining  by  Chinese  should  be  permitt- 
ed. The  first  is  involved  in  petitions  that  the  rate  of  license  for  Chinese  miners 
shall  be  again  reduced  to  the  sum  of  $4  per  month,  the  same  as  for  other 
foreigners ; the  second,  in  petitions  that  the  capitation  tax  of  $50  each  on  landing 
be  diminished  to  $5  each.  A simple  repeal  of  two  separate  acts  of  the  last  Legis- 


5 


lature  is  asked,  and  the  restoration  of  the  laws  previously  existing  on  these  points. 
The  two  questions,  it  may  be  noticed,  are  entirely  distinct.  The  granting  of  the 
first  class  of  petitions  alone  allows  a continuance  of  the  privilege  of  mining  to  the 
Chinese  in  the  State,  but  debars  further  immigration.  This  is  the  most  important 
desideratum.  The  granting  of  both  classes  of  petitions  would  restore  the  privileges 
of  the  miners,  and  also  permit  further  immigration,  for  which  many  in  the  agri- 
cultural districts,  particularly  in  Southern  California,  and  interested  in  cultivating 
the  swamp  lands,  are  solicitous.  It  is  quite  possible  some  members  may  prefer  ac- 
tion on  the  first  alone,  with  the  present  light,  leaving  the  rate  of  the  capitation 
tax  unchanged.  To  grant  the  second  class  of  petitions  alone  appears  to  be  a mat- 
ter of  no  consequence  at  present,  as  the  Chinese  -would  continue  to  leave  the  State 
as  far  as  possible,  and  discourage  the  immigration  of  their  friends  ; nor,  indeed, on 
the  other  hand,  would  an  increase  of  even  the  present  capitation  tax  be  a matter 
of  any  importance  to  those  unfriendly  to  them,  since  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  ac- 
complishes their  object  as  effectually  as  would  any  larger  sum,  if  the  law  be  enforced. 

The  general  view  to  be  represented  is  this:  that  the  interests  of  Calif ornia  forbid 
a policy  calculated  to  exclude  or  debase  Chinese  immigration  here. 

This  subject  has  never  yet  been  thoroughly  discussed.  It  will  be  my  aim  to  lay 
before  you  such  statements  as  appear  to  approximate  the  truth.  If  any  of  these 
are  incorrect,  they  will  probably  be  found  in  regard  to  facts  and  opinions,  under- 
estimated. And  I trust  they  may  be  scrutinized,  and  corrections  be  made  of  any 
that  lean  in  the  other  direction. 

Who  are  the  Chinese? — not  coolies. 

To  obtain  a satisfactory  view  of  the  Chinese  as  we  find  them  in  California,  it 
will  be  necessary  first  to  ask,  who  are  these  people  ? and  how  came  they  here  ? 

It  has  been  said  they  are  coolies.  By  this  it  is  meant  they  belong  to  a general 
degraded  caste  in  their  native  country.  The  word  “ coolie”  is  sometimes  applied 
to  Chinese  laboring  men,  inferior  servants,  and  farm  hands,  by  Europeans.  But 
there  is  no  caste  in  China,  any  more  than  in  the  United  States.  The  mistaken 
ideas  which  prevail  on  this  subject  have  arisen  from  the  confounding  the  Chinese 
people  and  customs  with  those  of  India,  where  the  entire  social  system  is  widely 
different.  The  English  newspapers,  familiar  with  Indian  usages,  and  viewing  all 
the  nations  of  the  East  through  the  medium  of  the  press  in  their  great  colonial 
presidencies  of  Bengal,  Bombay  and  Madras,  have  originated  in  Great  Britain 
and  America  gross  mistakes  in  regard  to  the  other  countries  of  whose  trade  the 
East  India  Company  held  also  a long  monopoly.  The  Hindustani  word  “coolie” 
is  one  of  those  inflicted  upon  the  Chinese,  in  whose  language  it  has  no  equivalent, 
and  who  have  no  caste  or  class  whom  it  represents.  It  would  be  justly  held  degrad- 
ing to  style  an  English  laborer  of  whatever  occupation,  in  China,  a “ coolie,” 
and  it  is  not  right  to  attach  to  Chinese  the  odium  of  a social  debasement  which  is 
peculiar  to  another  country,  to  other  institutions,  and  to  another  and  most  dis- 
similar people.  Their  emigrants  here  are  just  what  any  other  people  are  : laborers, 
cooks,  boatmen,  farmers,  carpenter*,  stone  masons,  brick-layers,  shop-keepers, 
book-binders,  weavers,  tea-packers,  gardeners,  and  just  what  an  equal  number 
from  any  other  land  might  be  expected  to  present  in  the  variety  of  their 
occupations.  Some,  that  speak  English  best,  have  been  scholars  in  missionary 
schools,  or  employees  about  foreign  hongs.  Here  and  there  is  a literary  man, 


6 


though  rarely  seen,  and  his  accomplishments  unappreciated.  Then,  there  is 
an  abundance  of  the  vilest  classes — the  gambler,  the  infamous  female,  and  others, 
who  prey  upon  the  fortunate,  the  unwary,  or  the  wanton  of  their  own  countrymen . 

NOT  SLAVES. — THEIR  COMPANIES. 

Again,  they  were  not  brought  here  by  capitalists,  either  Chinese  or  others.  The 
very  mistaken  notions  of  our  own  people  in  respect  to  this  subject  arose  from  not 
understanding,  as  was  natural  enough,  the  nature  of  their  “ Companies.”  This 
was  explained  by  me  in  a series  of  articles  in  the  Oriental  newspaper,  last  spring. 
The  following  extract  will  suffice  at  present  for  any  who  still  labor  under  such 
erroneous  ideas : 

“ When  the  Chinese  visit  any  other  province  of  their  country  in  considerable  numbers,  it  is  their 
custom  to  have  a common  quarters,  or  rendezvous,  which  they  style  an  ui-kun , that  is,  a gathering- 
place,  or  company’s  house.  It  is  like  a club-house,  in  being  supported  wholly  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tions, and  in  the  provision  of  food  and  lodging  at  their  cost.  And  so,  when  they  voluntarily  emigrate 
to  any  foreign  country,  in  Asia  or  America,  they  at  once  contribute  to  erect  a house.  Agents  or 
superintendents  are  elected,  who  register  the  members  and  manage  its  concerns.  Servants  are  em- 
ployed to  take  care  of  the  building,  cook  the  food,  and  attend  the  sick.  Provision  is  made  for  the 
interment  of  the  dead,  repairs  of  tombs,  and  the  semi-annual  worship  of  the  spirits.  And,  bevond 
all  this,  rules  are  agreed  upon  for  the  government  of  this  club,  or  company  ; and  these  are  adopted  or 
repealed  at  pleasure  in  the  most  democratic  manner.  The  members  are  no  more  ‘slaves’  than  the 
members  of  an  American  fire-company,  or  any  other  voluntary  association,  governed  by  rules  estab- 
lished by  the  majority,  and  electing  their  own  officers  at  regular  periods.  They  have  all  declared 
that  they  have  never  owned,  imported,  or  employed  any  slaves.  There  is  slavery,  or  peonage,  of  a 
certain  kind,  in  China,  but  it  is  very  different  from  the  bondage  of  Africans  in  the  United  States.  It 
is  said  there  are  a few,  not  a hundred,  individuals  of  that  class  here  ; but  they  never  have  been  em- 
ployed by  the  Companies,  and  work  probably  on  their  own  account.  Americans,  we  are  assured,  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  that  source.  The  funds  of  the  Companies  are  not  used  for  mercantile  purposes, 
or  to  obtain  revenue,  and,  indeed,  are  paid  out  nearly  as  fast  as  they  come  in.  The  treasuries  of 
several  of  these  Companies  are  now  empty,  or  in  debt.  There  are  at  present  in  California  five  of  these 
Chinese  Companies.  We  present  in  a tabular  form  their  computations  of  the  total  number  of  Chinese 
that  have  arrived  in  California  ; that  have  returned  hence  to  their  native  land  ; that  have  died  here  ; 
and  finally,  their  estimate  of  the  number  at  present  in  the  State.  We  can  from  this  table  ascertain 
more  nearly  than  by  any  other  method  the  Chinese  population  of  California.  There  are  probably  not 
a thousand  men  who  have  not  connected  themselves  with  one  or  the  other  of  these  five  Companies.” 


TABLE. 


Names. 

Arrivals. 

Departures. 

Deceased . 

Present. 

Yeung-wo  Company, . . . . 

. . . 10,900 

2,500 

400 

14.000 

Canton  Company, 

. ..  8,400 

1,300 

300 

6,800 

Yan-wo  Company, 

...  2,100 

ICO 

160 

1,780 

Sze-yap  Company,*  . . . . . 

...16,650 

3,700 

300 

9,200 

Ning-yeung  Company,  . . 

...  4,899 

1,269 

173 

6,907 

Total, 

...48,949 

8,929 

1,333 

38,687 

INTEREST  OF  OUR  SHIPPING. 

At  the  ports  of  Whampoa,  Macao,  Hong  Kong,  and  Shanghai,  these  strangers 
come  in  contact  with  American  and  European  commerce.  Their  unwieldy  hulks, 
fashioned  after  antediluvian  models,  cannot  navigate  the  broad  Pacific  beyond 
their  own  familiar  coasts.  The  Chinese  greatly  prefer  American  clipper  ships, 
on  account  of  their  superior  speed,  cleanliness,  safety,  and  less  liability  to  deten- 
tion on  entering  our  ports.  We  cannot  ascertain  the  proportion  that  have  come 
and  gone  in  our  own  and  other  vessels.  The  following  tables  have,  however,  been 
obligingly  furnished  from  the  imperfect  records  of  the  Custom-House  : 


* 3,450  of  the  Sze-yap  Company  separated,  and  with  others  formed  the  Ning-yeung. 


7 


Statement  of  Immigration  of  Chinese  to  California. 


Tear, .... 

1849 

1850 

1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

Total. 

Vessels,.. . 
Tounage. . 
Passengers 

13 

3,700 

323 

99 

7,708 

447 

35 

11,700 

2,716 

84 

43,144 

18,434 

54 

25,535 

4,316 

52 

28,021 

15,063 

37 

15,527 

3,212 

297 

135,335 

44,511 

Statement  of  Emigration  of  Chinese  from  California. 


Tear, 

1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

Total. 

Vessels, 

Tonnage, 

Passengers, 

96 

51,241 

261 

120 

72,596 

2,056 

89 

53,349 

4,405 

113 

85,689 

2,386 

92 

73,093 

3,328 

510 

335,977 

12,436 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  lists  of  the  Companies  are  not  so  numerous  as  the 
entries  at  the  Custom-House.  It  is  known  that  ship-captains  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  reporting  less  than  the  correct  number,  both  to  avoid  fines  and  to  save 
the  hospital  fees,  which  they  always,  however,  exacted. 

The  first  item  of  profit  that  may  be  noted  is  that  upon  passengers  by  sea.  The 
passage-money,  at  the  lowest  estimate,  has  been  forty  dollars  each  in  this  direc- 
tion, and  twenty  returning.  Adding  to  the  Companies’  estimate  till  December, 
1854,  that  of  the  Custom-House  for  last  year,  we  find,  at  these  rates,  the  sum  of 
two  millions,  three  hundred  and  twenty-nine  thousand,  five  hundred  and  eighty 
dollars,  paid  for  passages.  Shippers  have  frequently  other  charges  to  make  for 
fittiug  up  bunks,  water-tanks,  &c. ; and  we  do  not  consider  the  cost  of  provisions 
laid  in  here  by  those  returning. 

The  hospital  tax  has  been  collected  for  the  fall  number  reported.  This  has 
gone  into  the  State  Treasury.  At  five  dollars  each,  it  would  amount  to  two 
hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand,  five  hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars. 

The  exports  and  imports  between  California  and  China  cannot  be  ascertained, 
on  account  of  the  destruction  of  some  of  the  records  by  fire,  and  the  disordered 
condition  of  others.  The  following  tables  have  been  obtained,  however,  from  the 
Collector  of  the  Custom-House  : 


8 


Statement  of  Imports  from  China  into  the  District  of  San  Francisco , Cal.,  from  the  ls£  July,  1853,  to  the  31s<  December,  1855,  exhibiting  some  of  the 

Principal  Articles.  Prepared  in  the  Auditor's  Office,  Custom-House,  San  Francisco. 

j TOTAL. 

Value. 

334,905 

402,320 

40 

CM 

CM 

j>- 

co 

IH 

558,312 

196,220 

448,742 

218,325 

© 

© 

©^ 

pH 

CM 

r~J 

co  r-  co  © 

^ I—  © pH 
© IH  C0^  © 

oo  40"  oo  cm" 
oo  co  00  © 

(M  Hji  co  ^ 

(M 

CO 

© 

40 

pH 

40 

pH 

m- 

OTHER 

IMPORTS. 

Value. 

129,703 

*272,589 

402.292 

pH  CD  © H 
CD  rH  ^ © 

co^©  co  r~ 
pH  co  cd  od 
00  CD  CO  CD 
pH 

352,368 

HjA  CD  rH  i-H 
© © CO  pH 

oq  co^  co  co_ 

CD  co"  io"  rf 
CO  00  00  00 

289,842 

SILKS. 

Value. 

15,400 

16,661 

32,061 

•^NCOt- 

eoroot- 

omch 

O^Vh 

*0  r-H 

73,646 

CO  © © CD 
40  CM  © pH 
40  00  HN 

cm"  © 

rH 

22,779 

MCE. 

Value. 

CO  CM 

CO  O 
HO 
cm"  CO 
GO  rH 

100,215 

rH  CO  40  05 
^^fOO 
i^ph 

nco'^'n 

05  CO  CO  <M 

00 

<M 

CO 

tH 

© 

CM 

rH  © £-  © 

© © pH  © 
H^CD  ^ 40 
© pH 

CM  © © IH 

230,167| 

OPIUM. 

le 

10,338 

20,392 

30,730 

00  40  CO  o 
05  © o co 
cq^xi^(M 

H O d D 
CM  M HP  r-H 

[ 107,586 

55,121 

102,144 

59,544 

50,262 

267,071 

k 

4,281 

4,304 

8, 5851 

CD  05  CO  05 
00  40  CO  (M 

CD  (M_h^h^ 
CO"  rtf  CD  CO" 

17,857 

C^hO 
© CO  © © 
cq 

© od  © © 

pH  rH  pH 

© 

40 

cq 

©" 

COFFEE. 

Value. 

I 1,169 

C5 

© 

rH 

1 953 

4,583 

5,536 

© 1—  © 

CO  © © 

co"  cm" 

40 

I— 

05 

40 

is 

14,630 

O 

CO 

CO 

pH 

O CD 

CD  CD 

1-^  CD 

© IH 

pH  © 

68,426 

600 

37,213 

35,543 

© 

40 

CO 

co" 

it— 

SUGAR. 

Value.  1 

i 

64,687 

41,507 

C5 

rH_ 

CD 

o 

pH 

40  I—  '*sfl  05 

40  40  pH 

40  CM  05 

co"  © 00 

t—  CO  05  CD 
pH 

40 

1— 

rH 

1H 

CD 

CO 

^ © © © 

40  © 40  CO 
© © r*  CM 
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1 362,800 

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1,698,620 

992,375 

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3,857,928 

732,536 

2,402,633 

1,561,746 

8,554,843 

1,696,100 

2,730,404 

2,988,402 

1,715,295 

9,130,201 

TEA. 

Value. 

31,445 

33,119 

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177,193 

153,263 

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607,647 

132,962 

309,494 

186,078 

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440,425 

305,742 

233,642 

437,685 

1,417,494 

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|2,984,13l|  679,522120,376,0391  836,1691  156,4121 12.680|  76,289  405,387|  5C7,710|  128, 486|1, 044, 502[|$3, 674,456 

* There  is  included  in  this  amount  $80,000  silver  coin,  $28,0G7  gold  coin,  and  $90,635  American  produce  relumed,  making  an  aggregate  of  $198,702. 


9 


The  article  of  coffee  is  not  of  Chinese  growth,  but  still  that,  and  many  other 
products  of  the  neighboring  islands  and  countries,  would  open  their  way  through 
a regular  commercial  route.  The  imports  of  the  above  table  average  near  a 
million  and  a half  dollars  per  annum.  The  cargoes  of  1854  were  valued  in  the 
whole,  at  $27,338  each,  and  those  of  1855  at  $40,963  each.  Suppose  that  but 
one-third  of  the  ships  of  the  previous  year  arrived  in  its  first  six  months,  the  val- 
uation of  the  cargoes  of  the  172  ships  arriving  since  1849,  at  $32,000  each,  would 
amount  to  five  millions,  five  hundred  and  four  thousand  dollars,  without  counting 
a balance  for  1848.  Then,  we  may  fairly  say,  that  nine  millions  of  dollars  worth 
of  various  imports  have  been  brought  to  California  from  China. 

But  we  hear  some  one  objecting  that  these  goods  were  chiefly  intended  for 
Chinese  consumption.  True,  but  just  at  present  we  are  showing  the  profits  of 
the  trade  to  the  shipping  interest ; and  again,  their  use  of  imported  provisions 
and  clothing  diminishes  each  year,  as  with  ourselves  ; and  further,  the  profits 
upon  many  of  the  earlier  importations  by  Americans,  reached  almost  fabulous 
amounts. 

The  Shipping  List  in  1852  remarked  : 

“ The  trade  between  this  place  and  China  was  at  the  outset,  from  a variety  of  causes,  much  larger 
in  proportion  to  the  population  of  California,  than  it  now  is.  Aside  from  the  natural  tendencies  to 
extravagance  which  sudden  wealth  induces,  making  an  extraordinary  demand  for  the  fancy  articles  of 
our  Celestial  neighbors,  many  of  the  early  miners  were  Lower  Californians,  Mexicans,  and  Chilonos, 
who,  in  many  cases,  invested  the  product  at  the  mines  in  Chinese  goods  ; and  being  in  most  cases  of 
a class  unacquainted  with  their  value,  they  paid  far  more  for  them  than  they  could  be  bought  for  near 
their  homes,  offering  of  course  no  inducement  for  a second  adventure.  They  were  also  bought  by 
traders  at  the  different  towns  along  the  coast,  which  at  the  outset  was  a fair  business  ; but  since  the 
yield  at  the  mines  has  been  less  to  individuals,  their  busines  has  also  become  of  less  value.  A very 
perceptible  difference  was  made  in  the  demand  when  the  law  imposing  the  foreign  miners’  tax  went 
into  operation,  as  the  foreign  miners  were  the  only  purchasers  in  that  section  of  the  country.” 

The  variety  of  the  commodities  open  to  our  export  and  import  is  but  partially 
represented  by  the  Custom  House  entries  of  the  incipient  intercourse  of  the  past- 
few  years.  A reference  to  the  tabular  statements  of  articles  subject  to  tariff,  as 
specified  in  treaties  at  the  close  of  the  Opium  War,  will  exhibit  a range  for  the 
employment  of  unlimited  capital.  An  official  list  of  commodities  of  export  and 
import  was  drawn  up  at  that  time  by  Robert  Thom,  Esq.,  subsequently  Consul  at 
Nmgpo.* 


* The  following  is  the  list  as  given  in  the  “Chinese  Commercial  Guide,”  by  the  Hon.  J.  R.  Morrison: 

Articles  of  Import  to  China . 

1.  Assafcetida.  2.  Beeswax.  3.  Betel  nut.  4.  Bicho  de  mar,  1st  sort,  or  black  ; do.,  2d  sort,  or 
white.  5.  Bird’s-nests,  1st  sort,  or  cleaned  ; do.,  2d  sort,  or  good  middling  ; do.,  3d  sort,  or  unclean- 
ed. 6.  Camphor  (Malay),  1st  quality,  or  clean  ; do.,  2d  quality,  or  refuse.  7.  Cloves,  1st  quality,  or 
picked  ; do.,  2d  quality,  or  mother  cloves.  8.  Clocks,  watches,  spy-glasses,  writing-desks,  dressing- 
boxes,  perfumery,  cutlery,  hardware,  &c.,  See.  9.  Canvas.  10.  Cochineal.  11.  Coral,  1st,  2d,  3d  and 
4th  qualities  ; do.  beads.  12.  Cornelian  ; do.  beads.  13.  Cotton.  14.  Cotton  Manufactures,  viz. : 
1st  quality  Longcloths,  white  ; 2d  quality  Longcloths,  white  ; 3d  quality  Longcloths,  gray  or  un- 
bleached ; Twilled  cloth,  white  or  gray  ; Cambrics  and  Muslins  ; Chintz  and  Prints  ; Handkerchiefs, 
large  ; do.,  small ; Ginghams,  Pulicates,  Dyed  Cottons,  Velveteens,  Silk  and  Cotton  Mixtures,  Woolen 
and  Cotton  Mixtures,  and  all  kinds  of  Fancy  Goods.  15.  Cotton  Yarn  and  Cotton  Thread.  16.  Cow 
Bezoar.  17.  Cutch.  18.  Elephants’  Teeth,  1st  quality,  whole  ; 2d  quality,  broken.  19.  Fishmaws. 
20.  Flints.  21.  Glass,  Glass  Ware,  and  Crystal  Ware.  22.  Gambier.  23.  Ginseng,  ist  quality  ; do., 
2d  quality,  or  refuse.  24.  Gold  and  Silver  Thread,  1st  quality,  or  real ; do.  do.  do.,  2d  quality,  or  imi- 
tation. 25.  Gums  : Benjamin  ; Olibanum  ; Myrrh  ; Gums  unenumerated.  26.  Horns,  Buffalo  and 
Bullocks’ ; do.,  Unicorn  or  Rhinoceros’.  27.  Linen,  fine  ; do.,  coarse,  or  Linen  and  Cotton  Mixtures* 
Silk  and  Linen  Mixtures,  &o.  28.  Mace,  or  Flower  of  Nutmeg.  29.  Mother-of-Pearl  Shells.  30.  Met- 
als, viz.  : Copper,  unmanufactured,  as  in  slabs;  do.,  manufactured,  as  in  sheets,  rods,  &c.  ; Iron, 


10 


The  intercourse  with  the  East  must  collect  also  many  new  commodities  of 
trade,  and  materials  for  the  exercise  of  our  manufacturing  skill.  This  may  be 
illustrated  by  the  gutta  percha  trade,  now  annually  becoming  more  valuable  This 
is  but  one  of  the  recent  botanical  discoveries  of  the  vast  and  as  yet  really  almost 
unknown  treasures  of  the  East.  It  is  noticed  thus  in  an  English  newspaper  : 

“In  twelve  years  the  wonderful  utility  of  this  new  material  has  been  established  in  various  applica- 
tions. But  the  gum  would  have  remained  comparatively  useless  but  for  the  inventive  spirit  which 
has  subdued  every  difficulty  of  a new  manufacture. 

“ The  substance  is  now  applied  to  the  humblest  as  well  as  the  highest  purposes.  It  is  a clothes-line 
defying  the  weather  ; it  is  a buffer  for  a railway  carriage  ; it  is  a stopping  for  a hollow  tooth  ; it  is  a 
sheathing  for  the  wire  that  conveys  the  electric  spark  across  the  channel.  It  is  a cricket  ball ; it  is  a 
life-boat  in  the  Arctic  seas.  It  is  a noiseless  curtain-ring  ; it  is  a sanitary  water-pipe.  It  resists  the 
action  of  many  chemical  substances,  and  is  thus  largely  employed  for  vessels  in  bleaching  and  dyeing 
factories  ; it  is  capable  of  being  moulded  into  the  most  efficient  materials  for  multiplying  works  of 
ornamental  art. 

“The  collection  of  gutta  percha  has  given  a new  stimulus  to  the  feeble  industry  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Java,  and  Sumatra,  and  Borneo,  and  a new  direction  to  the  commerce  of  Singapore.  It  has  brought 
the  people  of  the  Indian  archipelago  into  more  direct  contact  with  European  civilization.” 

It  is  not  California  alone  but  the  countries  and  people  lying  along  the  whole 
American  coast  from  Alaska  to  Chili  that  are  interested  in  the  establishment  of 
a regular  and  reliable  commerce  with  Asia.  Four  years  ago  a commercial  news- 
paper of  this  State  looked  forward  to  the  necessities  of  such  an  intercourse,  and 
made  the  following  judicious  remarks  : 

“The  trade  in  silk  goods  and  articles  of  Chinese  manufacture  could  be  indefinitely  increased,  could 


unmanufactured,  as  in  pigs  ; do.,  manufactured,  as  in  bars,  rods,  & c. ; Lead,  in  pigs  and  manufac- 
tured ; Spelter  ; Tin  ; do.  Plates  ; Quicksilver ; Steel,  unmanufactured  English  and  Swedish  ; Unenu- 
merated Metals.  31.  Nutmegs,  1st  sort,  or  cleaned  ; do.,  2d  sort,  or  uncleaned.  32.  Pearls.  33.  Pep- 
per (Malay).  34.  Putchuck.  35.  Rattans.  36.  Rice,  Paddy,  and  Grain  of  all  kinds.  37.  Rose 
Maloes.  38.  Saltpetre  ; sold  only  to  government.  39.  Sharks’  Fins,  1st  sort,  or  white  ; do.  do.,  2d 
sort,  or  black.  40.  Skins  and  Furs,  viz.:  Cow  and  Ox  Hides,  tanned  and  untanned  ; Sea-Otter  .'kins  ; 
Fox  Skins,  large  ; do.  do.,  small ; Tiger,  Leopard,  and  Marten  Skins  ; Land-Otter,  Raccoon,  and  Sharks’ 
Skins;  Beaver  Skins;  Hare,  Rabbit,  and  Ermine  Skins.  41.  Smalts.  42.  Soap.  43.  Stockfish,  &c. 
44.  Sea-Horse  Teeth.  45.  Treasure  and  Specie  of  all  kinds.  46.  Wine,  Beer,  Spirits,  Acc.  47.  Woods, 
viz.:  Ebony;  Sandal-Wood ; Sapan-Wood ; Unenumerated  Woods.  48.  Woolen  Manufactures,  viz.: 
Blankets  of  all  kinds  ; Broadcloths,  Spanish  Stripes,  Habit  Cloths,  &c.  ; Long  Ells  ; Worleys,  Flannel, 
Ac c.  ; Dutch  Camlets  ; English  Camlets  ; Imitation  Camlets.  Bombazetts  ; Bunting,  narrow  ; Unenu- 
merated Woolen  Goods,  Silk  and  Woolen,  Cotton  and  Woolen  Mixtures.  49.  Woolen  Yarn. 

Articles  of  Export  from  China. 

1.  Alum.  2.  Aniseed  Stars  ; do.  Oil.  3.  Arsenic.  4.  Bangles,  or  Glass  Armlets.  5.  Bamboo 
Screens,  and  Ware.  6.  Brass  Leaf.  7.  Building  Materials.  8.  Bone  and  Horn  Ware.  9.  Camphor. 
10.  Canes  of  all  kinds.  11.  Capoor  Cutchery.  12.  Cassia  ; do.  Buds  ; do.  Oil.  13.  fcliina  Root.  14. 
China  Ware  of  all  kinds.  15.  Clothes,  ready  made.  16.  Copper,  Tin,  and  Pewter  Ware.  17.  Corals 
(or  False  Coral).  18.  Crackers  and  Fireworks.  19.  Cubebs.  20.  I'ans,  as  Feather  Fans,  Acc.  21. 
Furniture  of  all  kinds.  22.  Galangal.  23.  Gamboge.  24.  Glass  and  Glass  Ware  of  all  kinds.  25. 
Glass  Beads.  26.  Glue,  Fish  Glue,  common,  Acc.  27.  Grass  Cloth  of  all  kinds.  28.  Hartall,  or  Orpi- 
ment.  29.  Ivory  Ware  of  all  kinds.  30.  Kittysols,  or  Paper  Umbrellas.  31.  Lackered  Ware  of  all 
kinds.  32.  Lead,  white.  33.  Lead,  red.  34.  Marble  Slabs.  3fc.  Mats,  straw,  rattan,  bamboo,  &c. 
36.  Mother-of-Pearl  Ware.  37.  Musk.  3S.  Nankeens  and  Cotton  Cloths  ; do.,  coarse  Canton.  39. 
Pictures,  viz.  : Large  Oil  Paintings;  do.,  Rice-Paper.  40.  Paper  Fans.  41.  Paper  of  all  kinds.  42. 
Pearls  (i.  e.  false  Pearls.)  43.  Preserves  and  Sweetmeats.  44.  Rattan  Work  of  all  kinds.  45.  Rhubarb. 
46.  Silk,  raw,  Nan-king  ; do  , Canton  ; do.,  coarse  or  refuse  ; do.  Organzine  ; do.  Thread  of  all  kinds  ; 
do.  Ribbons  ; Piece  Goods;  Satin,  1st  and  2d  qualities;  Senshaws;  Sarsnets;  Pongees;  Handkerchiefs; 
Parsee  Scarfs  ; Canton  Crapes  ; Silk  Velvet ; Macedonians  ; Plain  Lutestring  ; Striped  do. ; Twilled  do. ; 
Plain  and  Figured  Silk  ; Gold-figured  Damask  ; Embroidered  Silk  Handkerchiefs  ; do.  do.  Shawls.  47. 
Silk  and  Cotton  Mixtures,  Silk  and  Woolen  Mixtures,  and  Goods  of  such  class.  4S.  Shoes  and  Boots  of 
all  kinds.  49.  Sandal- Wood  Ware.  50.  Soy.  51.  Silver  Ware  and  Gold  Ware.  52.  Sugar,  raw,  white 
and  brown.  53.  Sugar  Candy  of  all  kinds.  54.  Tin-Foil.  55.  Tea  of  all  descriptions.  66.  Tobacco 
of  all  kinds.  57.  Turmeric.  68.  Tortoise-Shell  Ware.  59,  Trunks,  of  Leather.  60.  Treasure  (i.  e. 
Foreign  Coin) . 61.  Vermilion. 


11 


traders  from  the  south  coast  be  certain  of  always  finding  stocks  from  which  to  select  goods  suitable 
to  their  wants  ; but  this  will  not,  cannot  be,  until  houses  regularly  established  keep  up  constant  sup- 
plies, for  up  to  this  time  no  traffic  has  been  pursued  with  less  system  ; and  shipments  have  been  so 
often  made  at  random,  by  parties  on  the  other  side,  too  often  containing  large  amounts  of  goods  en  . 
tirely  unsuited  to  the  wants  of  the  market,  causing  serious  loss  to  the  shippers,  that  it  is  not  likely 
these  experiments  will  be  again  repeated  to  much  extent.  In  a word,  this  trade  will  not  be  developed 
until  capitalists  have  taken  the  matter  in  hand,  pursuing  it  steadily  and  systematically  ; and  not 
until  then  a rich  reward  awaits  them.” 

The  exports  from  California  have  been  necessarily  small  to  China  as  to  all  the 
rest  of  the  world.  They  have  consisted  chiefly  of  gold,  silver,  quicksilver,  cinna- 
bar, and  a few  manufactures.  Our  harvest  has  hitherto  not  been  golden  corn, 
but  gold  itself;  not  precious  grain,  cut  from  the  sunny  face  of  the  hills,  aud  win 
nowed  with  the  wind,  but  more  precious  grains,  dug  from  their  dark  interior  or  from 
deep  ravines,  and  washed  in  the  cold  rushing  streams.  But  the  time  is  coming  when 
we  shall  have  agricultural  and  manufactured  products  to  return.  Until  the  pre- 
sent time  a much  larger  number  of  vessels  have  crossed  the  ocean  to  Asia  than 
from  there.  Our  clippers  have  pursued  their  course  westward  after  landing  their 
cargoes  from  the  Atlantic  States  and  Europe ; from  the  same  cause  the  farmer 
and  manufacturer  in  California  will  always  have  the  advantage  of  merely  nominal 
freights.  And  further,  the  tendency  must  be  to  throw  the  trade  into  the  hands 
of  American  vessels.  Thus  the  gigantic  marine  which  has  advanced  with  such 
amazing  progress  must  by  the  aid  of  California,  more  than  any  other  influence, 
control  more  aud  more  the  commerce  of  the  whole  Eastern  world. 

AGRICULTURAL  AND  MANUFACTURING  INTERESTS. 

By  far  the  most  desirable  class  of  occupations  for  the  employment  of  the  Chi- 
nese laborers  in  California  is  in  connection  with  the  development  of  agriculture 
and  the  preparation  of  its  proceeds  for  use  by  ourselves,  and  the  nations  of  the 
East. 

First  in  interest  stands  cotton.  “ Cotton  is  king,”  in  many  most  important 
senses.  The  dress  of  the  lower  class  in  China  is  universally,  in  summer  and  winter, 
cotton.  In  summer,  it  is  but  a short  glazed  frock ; in  winter  the  number  of  these 
increases  in  the  same  proportion  that  the  degrees  of  the  thermometer  diminish.  It 
is  often  quizzically  asked,  “ Well,  fo-kee,  how  many  jackets  cold  this  morning?  ” 
It  has  been  imported  raw  in  immense  quantities  from  India  and  America.  In  1842, 
there  were  entered  at  Canton  650,000  peculs  (a  pecul  is  a pound  and  a third);  in 
1843,  817.668  peculs,  of  which  578,775  were  Bombay,  89,201  Bengal,  141,860 
Madras,  and  8,832  American.  The  average  importation  to  China  is  about  750, 
000  peculs,  which  sells  ordinarily  at  $9  50  a pecul.  So  this  one  article  draws  from 
the  country,  annually,  $7,125,000.  The  manufacturers  in  England  have,  on  the 
whole,  given  an  emphatic  preference  to  American  cotton,  notwithstanding  the  efforts 
of  government  to  encourage  its  production  in  their  own  territories.  And  so  the 
Chinese,  our  merchants  report,  favor  the  American  article,  and  its  importation  is 
likely  to  gradually  increase.  Cotton  is  a product  for  which  the  soil  and  climate 
of  California  appear  peculiarly  adapted.  Three  years  ago,  Major  P.  B.  Reading, 
if  memory  serves,  made  some  satisfactory  experiments  in  its  culture,  upon  his  farm 
near  Shasta.  Within  a few  weeks  past  a sample  of  some  grown  here  was  sent  to 
Mobile,  for  examination.  The  judgment  was  most  “ flattering.”  It  was  pronounced 
“ beautiful.”  The  following  remarks  are  made  by  the  editor  : 

u The  cotton  came  in  the  bolls  as  it  was  picked,  is  pronounced  of  excellent  quality,  is  long  staple,  of 
very  strong  texture  and  of  silky  appearance,  and,  properly  ginned,  we  are  assured,  would  be  worth 


12 


fifteen  cents  a pound — as  cotton  now  rates— >in  the  Mobile  market.  So  pleased,  indeed,  were  the  cotton 
men  with  its  appearance,  we  found  it  difficult  to  resist  their  importunities  for  samples  and  seed  of  it, 
and  retain  sufficient  to  bring  back  for  the  inspection  of  our  other  friends.  It  was  grown,  as  our  cor- 
respondent informs  us,  on  a small  lot  owned  by  a Louisiana  planter,  now  resident  near  Sacramento, 
who  has  strong  confidence  that  cotton  can  be  raised  in  the  ‘Golden  State,’  and  will  become  a very 
important  article  of  export.  The  sample  sent  us  is  certainly  of  very  superior  quality,  and  resembles 
closely  a specimen  of  Brazil  cotton,  received  by  us  two  or  three  years  since  through  an  American 
gentleman  for  a time  resident  in  that  country. 

“If  California  is  capable  of  producing  much  of  such  cotton,  the  importance  of  that  fact  can  hardly 
be  over-estimated.” 

Cotton  here  comes  back  to  its  original  cultivators.  It  was  taken  from  Eastern 
Asia  to  Persia  and  Arabia.  The  common  names  of  some  of  its  tissues  are  derived 
from  the  Chinese.  Nankeen,  the  ancient  capital,  is  the  region  from  whence  the  most 
substantial  web  has  been  obtained. 

The  name  of  this  most  valuable  species  of  mallow  has  been,  by  some  philolo- 
gists, derived  from  the  Arabic ; but  we  may  look  for  it,  with  more  probability,  in 
the  designation  of  the  district  of  Khoten,  in  the  western  extreme  of  the  Chinese 
dominions,  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  fertile  spots  in  the  world.  The  name  is 
but  slightly  changed  to  Kustana,  in  the  venerable  Sanscrit  of  India.  The  word 
hat  has  passed  into  the  Chinese.  Marco  Polo  found  cotton  and  skillful  artizans 
there  six  hundred  years  ago.  He  says,  that  in  the  kingdom  of  Cotan  “ they  have 
all  things  in  abundance,  a large  supply  of  silk,  with  vineyards  and  good  orchards. 
They  carry  on  merchandize  and  manufactures,  but  are  not  men-at-arms.”  It  still 
pays  its  tribute  to  the  Emperor  in  home-grown  cotton,  and  a Chinese  geographer 
states  that  the  plant  “ covers  the  fields  like  yellow  clouds.” 

The  favorite  cotton  region  of  China  is  the  alluvial  valley  of  the  great  Yang- 
tsze-kiang  River,  like  the  Sacramento  in  its  moist,  fat  soil,  and  frequent  inunda- 
tions. However,  it  is  also  cultivated  in  Canton  province.  I have  made  inquiries 
and  find  there  are  some  in  California  who  are  acquainted  with  the  process. 

Yet  this  is  a department  of  agriculture  which  can  only  be  encouraged  by 
liberal  inducements,  as  by  grants  of  the  tule  lands,  and  by  a legislation  that  shall  en- 
courage the  Chinese  to  make  their  homes  among  us.  and  impart  a sense  of  security 
and  a hope  of  permanent  advantage.  Their  past  experience  has  inclined  them  to 
only  come,  rush  to  our  mines,  and  hasten  home  with  a meagre  prize,  or  in  angry 
disappointment. 

But  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  laud  shrink  from  the  contemplation  of  the 
employment  of  these  people  upon  the  wastes  of  inviting  cotton  land  in  the  State, 
through  apprehension  of  the  danger  of  a gradual  debasement  of  the  Chinese  into 
a condition  of  peonage  or  slavery.  But  surely  a result  so  deplorable  can  be  avoided 
by  intelligent  and  liberal  legislation.  There  is  no  necessary  connection  between 
cotton  and  slaves.  Chinese  immigration,  indeed,  extends  a hope  of  the  emancipation 
of  the  negro.  Towards  the  employment  of  their  labor,  as  free,  the  West  India 
Islands,  and  the  state  of  the  Southern  United  States,  seem  now  iuevitably  tend- 
ing. Their  free  labor  would  be  cheaper  than  their  labor  as  slaves.  Reasonable 
Southern  men  proclaim  themselves  glad  to  be  relieved  from  the  responsibilities, 
anxieties,  hazards,  and  manifold  and  continued  burthens  of  such  “ property.”*  It 

* A correspondent  of  the  National  Intelligencer , referring  to  the  formation  of  an  English  company 
at  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of  importing  Chinese  to  Cuba,  says  it  is  “an  impression  which  many 
have  cherished,  that  Chinese  laborers  may  at  no  distant  day  occupy  the  place  of  less  productive 
laborers  now  employed  in  our  Southern  States. 

“ African  slavery  has  become  more  and  more  unproductive,  and  has  gradually  been  running  out  in 
every  section  of  Northern  and  Southern  America.  An  agitation — most  unjustifiable,  it  is  true,  yet 


13 


would  be  a terrible  alternative  for  the  Chinese.  Better  far  drive  them  all  out  to- 
morrow, at  the  point  of  the  sword,  than  dream  of  it.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
their  present  crushing  and  despotic  treatment,  by  those  that  fear  and  would  fling 
them  away,  this  dealing  with  these  unfortunate  strangers  like  brutes,  tends  towards 
such  a calamity. 

The  manufactured  forms  of  cotton  find  a market  in  China  in  something  like  the 
following  quantities  : 


White  long  cloths, 200,000  pieces,  at  $2.75,  amount  to  $750,000 

Gray  “ “ ...600,000  “ “ 2.90,  “ “ 1,740,000 


Gray  sheetings  and  drillings, ...500, 000  “ “ 2.25,  “ “ 1,125,000 

To  this  may  be  added  a few  chintzes,  muslins  and  handkerchiefs.  At  the  South 
the  native  looms  have  yielded  but  slowly  before  the  fabrics  of  Eastern  countries; 
but  great  changes  are  taking  place  in  the  whole  trade,  and  American  imitations 
of  their  own  goods  have  been  the  most  successful. 

Now  let  any  one  reflect  upon  the  circuitous  and  expensive  routes  which  Ameri- 
can cotton  must  pursue,  from  the  swamps  of  Georgia,  by  rivers,  railways  and 
oceans,  through  Lowell  or  Manchester,  to  the  Hindoo  and  Chinese  “ go-downs 
zigzagging  all  around  the  globe  ; taxed,  and  tolled,  and  tariffed  ; insured  against 
the  storms  of  the  Antarctic  capes  and  the  typhoons  of  the  tropics.  The  cotton  bale 
in  its  journey,  like  sheep  among  thickets,  leaves  its  fleece  to  warm  the  nests  of  an 
hundred  different  birds.  Despite  all  arguments  or  theories,  it  seems  self-evident, 
that  by  some  means  or  other,  this  most  universal  and  most  valuable  of  all  the 
figments  wherewith  the  human  race  hide  their  nakedness,  or  shield  them  from  the 
elements,  must,  in  the  course  of  time,  be  to  a large  extent  grown  and  manufac- 
tured in  California.  Whether  we  hinder  or  prosper  the  issue,  whether  it  be  de- 
layed even  till  we  are  laid  in  our  graves,  this  may  be  foretold. 

The  discoveries  of  coal,  as  the  great  pabulum  of  manufactures,  are,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  supply  of  cotton  fabrics  to  the  myriads  of  the  Asiatic  continent, 
invested  with  superlative  interest.  And  veins  of  this  mineral  seem  to  be  opening 
favorably  in  various  parts  of  this  State  and  of  Oregon. 

And,  gentlemen,  in  legislating  upon  a vast  interest  like  this,  it  is  well  to  look 
at  the  example  of  other  nations.  Now,  how  many  of  them  are  competing  for 
the  very  opportunities,  and  the  very  labor,  which  you  are  throwing  away  ? Are 
not  England,  France  and  Spain  experimenting,  making  immense  outlays,  and  im- 
porting this  industrious  and  intelligent  people  to  various  colonial  possessions? 
It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  illustrate  this  now,  further  than  to  quote  the  follow- 
ing instructive  article  from  a recent  number  of  the  London  Times  : 

“The  enormous  extent  to  which  our  cotton  manufactures  have  increased,  the  exports  amounting  to 
between  £30,000,000  and  £40,000,000  sterling  annually,  or  more  than  one-third  of  our  total  gigantic 
exports  ; the  large  number  of  our  population  dependent  on  its  prosperity  for  their  daily  food,  and  the 
vast  amount  of  revenue  contributed  to  the  State  by  this  source  of  industry,  may  well  occasion  the 
most  serious  alarm  on  viewing  our  position  with  respect  to  obtaining  an  unvaried  supply  of  the  raw 
material.  That  these  important  results  are  now  dependent  almost  on  a single  country,  and  sustained 


none  the  less  effective  for  evil — has  been  prevailing  for  years  at  home  and  abroad,  which  is  making 
the  system  of  African  slave  labor  more  and  more  unpleasant  and  unproductive  in  our  Southern 
States. 

“It  may  be  that,  in  the  orderings  of  that  Providence  which  is  so  much  more  benign  and  gentle  and 
beneficent  than  man  to  his  fellows,  a gradual  introduction  of  Asiatic  laborers  is  to  take  the  place  of 
the  African  in  our  sunny  South.  Their  habits,  and  the  climate  and  productions  of  their  country, 
specially  fit  the  Chinese  to  be  hardy  and  efficient  tillers  of  the  soil  for  Southern  planters,  and  active 
and  intelligent  porters  for  New  Orleans  and  Charleston  merchants.” 


14 


by  the  most  precarious  and  vicious  institution  in  existence— slavery — cannot  be  refuted.  Should 
unfortunately,  any  cause  interrupt  or  deprive  us  of  the  American  supply,  the  consequences  would  be 
most  disastrous.  Even  apart  from  other  possibilities,  the  rapid  extension  ef  cotton  manufactures  in 
the  United  States  must  ere  long  compel  us  to  look  for  other  fields  of  production,  if  we  expect  our  re- 
sources to  remain  unimpaired,  and  to  maintain  the  manufacturing  predominance  of  this  country. 

“My  object,  however,  is  not  to  expatiate  on  the  wealth  or  extent  of  our  cotton  industry,  but  to 
show  in  what  way  4 an  unlimited  supply  of  cotton  can  be  produced  at  a cheap  rate,’  independently  of 
any  foreign  source. 

“The  various  places  hitherto  suggested  for  the  extension  of  cotton  cultivation— such  as  India,  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa,  the  West  India  Islands,  &c.,  may  always  be  serviceable  as  an  auxiliary  supply, 
but  it  will  never  be  grown  in  sufficient  quantities  to  influence  the  market.  By  the  plan  I propose, 
cotton  may  be  grown  so  extensively  that  the  short  and  inferior  qualities  would  be  only  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  paper,  for  which  there  is  a great  scarcity  of  material. 

“A  tropical  climate  is  undoubtedly  the  indigenous  and  most  suitable  one  for  the  production  of  cot- 
ton—the  plant  being  perennial,  and  yielding  two  crops  annually  ; whereas,  in  the  Southern  States  of 
America  the  plant  is  annual,  one  crop  only  being  produced,  which  is  liable  to  injury  by  the  variable- 
ness of  the  season.  The  requisites,  therefore,  are,  to  obtain  a large  tract  of  land,  of  adequate  fertili- 
ty, at  a nominal  value,  and  a plentiful  supply  of  laborers  adapted  to  a tropical  climate,  who  would 
work  at  a moderate  rate  of  wages,  and  thereby  render  production  as  remunerative  as  slave  labor.  The 
great  field  for  obtaining  tropical  laborers  is  China  (India  can  also  furnish  a large  number  of  emigrants). 
The  low  rate  of  wages  they  obtain  in  their  own  country  makes  them  admirably  adapted  to  compete 
with  coerced  labor, ‘which  they  will  eventually  supersede.  The  natural  disposition  of  the  Chinese  to 
emigrate  in  search  of  employment,  which  they  cannot  obtain  in  their  own  country,  is  well  known  ; 
the  sugar  estates  in  Java,  the  gold  mines  of  Borneo,  &c.,  being  worked  principally  by  Chinese  settlers; 
and  even  the  wilds  of  Australia  and  California  have  long  abounded  with  these  enterprising  people.  In 
the  British  and  foreign  West  India  colonies  and  Brazil  many  have  been  imported,  though  the  expense 
of  transporting  them  such  a distance  is  very  great. 

“ The  large  island  of  New  Guinea,  or  one  of  the  adjacent  islands  to  the  north  of  Australia,  offers 
the  greatest  facility  for  the  establishment  of  a cotton  colony  on  the  grandest  scale.  With  a fertile 
soil,  and  within  a few  days’  sail  of  China  and  India,  there  can  be  no  doubt  the  most  extensive  and 
rapid  colonization  would  take  place,  and  that  in  a few  years  the  settlement  would  become  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  in  the  world. 

“The  natives  of  New  Guinea  are  few  in  number,  and  lower  in  the  scale  of  humanity  than  the  abo- 
rigines of  Australia.  Existing  on  the  spontaneous  productions  of  the  soil,  they  are  now  only  a prey 
to  the  piratical  Malays  and  Chinese,  who  sell  them  for  slaves — a practice  which  constitutes  nearly  the 
whole  trade  carried  on  with  the  island.  They  would,  doubtless,  with  the  assistance  of  our  missiona- 
ries, soon  become  more  civilized,  and  serviceable  for  picking  cotton,  and  other  descriptions  of  light 
work. 

“ Our  exports  to  China,  with  its  population  of  350,000,000,  barely  exceed  those  to  Cuba,  with  its 
1,000,000  inhabitants  ; and  it  may  naturally  be  presumed  that  our  trade  would  be  materially  increased 
by  the  extended  intercourse  which  would  result  from  our  finding  employment  for  their  enormous 
surplus  population.  A large  trade  with  the  eastern  part  of  the  Indian  archipelago  would  also  be  de- 
veloped.” 

There  are  other  great  agricultural  interests  concerned  in  the  treatment  of  the 
Chinese  in  California,  though  Done  comparable  in  national  and  supreme  import- 
ance to  that  of  cotton. 

Another  great  textile  export  of  their  Empire  is  silk.  It  is  an  auspicious  fact 
in  the  consideration  of  its  future  production  here,  that  a vigorous  native  worm, 
spinning  a fine  and  strong  fibre,  has  been  domiciliated  in  this  city  within  the  past 
few  weeks.  It  has  been  found  to  feed  upon,  not  the  tender  mulberry,  but  abund- 
ant local  shrubs.  The  cultivation  of  silk  offers  inducements  in  two  directions  : 
first,  as  an  export  in  some  of  the  numerous  webs  of  which  it  forms  the  whole  or 
a constituent  part ; second,  in  the  raw  state.  Raw  silk  is  worth  now,  in  Canton, 
for  the  best  tsatlee,  which  is  brought  from  the  North,  $510  a bale;  for  inferior 
kinds,  from  various  districts,  as  low  as  $295  a bale.  This  trade  has  increased 
immensely  within  ten  years.  In  1845, 10,727  bales  were  exported  to  Great  Brit- 
ain ; in  1847, 19,000  ; in  1851,  22,143  ; in  1852,  23,040 ; In  1853,  25,571 ; in 
1854,  61,984  ; in  1855,  for  11  mouths,  some  8,640  bales  below  the  previous  year. 


15 


In  1849,  35  bales  were  sent  to  the  United  States,  from  the  Northern  port  of 
Shanghai,  which  must  be  in  time  the  chief  point  for  this  export ; in  1852,  298 
bales  ; in  1854, 1,074  bales.  The  luxury  induced  in  Europe  and  America  by  the 
gold  of  California  and  Australia,  has  thus  been  felt  in  the  heart  of  China.  The 
silk-worm  of  California  may  not  unlikely  furnish  an  important  export,  when  the 
laborers  are  surrounded  by  peaceful  and  contented  families,  and  virtuous  Chinese 
females  supplant  the  rotten  creatures  that  have  been  the  first  to  venture  to  these 
distant  and  strange  shores. 

There  are  several  Eastern  fibres  of  great  value  that  have  never  been  cultivated 
in  the  West.  One  of  these,  the  Chinese  chu-ma,  (Boehmeria  nivea)  or,  “ snowy 
nettle.”  The  pearly  “ grass-cloth”  handkerchiefs,  and  webs  like  linen,  are  made 
from  this  plant.  It  is  seen  over  the  whole  East,  from  Siam  to  Japan.  Besides 
its  beauty,  it  is  of  great  strength.  While  clean  untwisted  fibres  of  Petersburgh 
hemp  sustained  160  pounds,  this  broke  with  from  250  to  343  pounds.  In  fineness 
it  is  superior  to  hemp.  Great  attention  has  been  given  to  it  very  recently  by  Eng- 
lish botanists,  with  a view  to  its  cultivation  in  India,  Assam,  Borneo,  and  other 
colonies.  It  is  so  easily  grown  as  to  be  used  by  fishermen  for  nets. 

Several  other  individuals  of  the  nettle  family  are  described  by  Dr.  Royle.  The 
pine-apple,  cocoanut  husk,  several  kinds  of  palm,  of  mallows,  (to  which  cotton 
belongs)  and  the  remarkable  “ Nepal  paper  plant”  are  all  used  in  China  and  the 
neighboring  countries  for  cordage  or  the  loom.  The  latter  was  introduced  to  Bhoo- 
tan  from  China  some  five  centuries  ago,  and  Dr.  Campbell  says  it  makes  a paper 
“as  strong  and  durable  as  leather  almost,  and  quite  smooth  enough  to  write  on,  and 
for  office  records  incomparably  better  than  any  India  paper.”  And  some  of  these 
materials  are  applied  to  other  uses,  such  as  matting  or  carpet  for  the  floor,  foot  or 
door  mats,  stuffing  for  beds,  and  brushes. 

The  numerous  alimentary  gifts  in  the  power  of  the  ancient  Oriental  world  to 
confer  upon  our  agriculture  and  horticulture  the  present  opportunity  will  not  allow 
me  even  to  name.  Rice  is  one  of  the  most  important — which  supplies  the  princi- 
ple nourishment  and  beverages  of  two-thirds  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  globe.  The 
cultivation  of  this  article,  and  of  sugar,  have  been  abundantly  urged  in  our  public 
prints. 

Tea,  the  delightful  herb,  “ that  cheers,  but  not  inebriates,”  may  yet  find  a home 
on  our  side.  This  seems  probable  for  several  reasons.  The  first  is  the  distracted 
state  of  the  empire  that  has  hitherto  been  its  almost  sole  nursery.  A commercial 
circular  of  Messrs.  Nye  & Co.  of  Canton  just  received,  states  that  teas  must,  for 
a considerable  period,  command  prices  greatly  in  advance  of  the  old  standards.  It 
says : 

“ First,  we  have  to  regard  the  producing  countr}r,  the  only  one  in  that  category,  China  ; and  we 
may  say,  without  any  extravagance  of  language,  that  we  find  it  paralyzed  and  well  nigh  exhausted  by 
Revolution  at  its  core,  and  Rebellion  in  ail  its  borders  ; the  peaceful  pursuits  of  industry  and  com- 
merce having  only  a precarious  existence.  Concurrently  and  consequently,  we  find  the  production  of 
Tea  lessened  and  its  quality  deterioriated,  the  change  in  the  latter  respect  foreshadowing  the  former 
change,  while  its  full  extent  is  not  perceptible  to  superficial  observers.  * * * Here,  at  Canton , 

prices  for  Congou  Tea  have,  by  a gradual  rise  during  four  years,  reached  100  per  cent,  advance  on  the 
prices  of  1851-52  ; and  even  with  this  rise  there  is  no  amount  of  desirable,  shipping  qualities, — while 
the  discouragement  to  new  business  in  Tea  every  native,  as  well  as  every  foreigner,  declares  is  greater 
than  ever  before.  At  Shangkae , the  deficiency  of  desirable  Black  Teas  is  proportionably  as  great  as 
here  ; and  we  see  there  ruling  this  year,  as  they  did  last,  the  same  unfavorable  rates  of  exchange, — 
of  6s.  4 d.  (a)  6s.  8ft.  per  dollar, — whilst  there  can  be  no  hope  of  material  amelioration  in  it  so  long  as 
the  import  trade  is  depressed  by  the  Revolution,  that  being  at  the  point  where  the  settlement  of  the 
large  Raw  Silk  trade  is  eUected. 


16 


“ In  the  writer’s  experience  of  more  than  twenty  years  in  the  China  trade,  there  never  have  been 
similar  valid  reasons  for  a high  scale  of  prices  in  the  consuming  countries,  former  periods  having 
furnished  causes  which  were  temporary  and  uncertain,  though  justly  regarded  as  important  with  ref- 
erence to  this  peculiar  product  of  but  one  country.  We  have  now,  on  the  contrary,  reached  a point 
far  beyond  the  domain  of  doubt  and  conjecture,  where  we  can  look  back  and  look  forward  understand- 
ing^ ; and  where,  viewing  the  question  wholly  irrespective  of  any  speculatively  based  reasons,  and 
judging  of  it  merely  by  ascertained  results , the  natural  and  sure  process  of  causes  which  must  be  con- 
sidered as  of  a permanent  nature,  we  can  indicate  with  confidence,  as  the  vital  necessity  for  the  pre- 
servation of  the  Tea  trade,  a matei'ially  advanced  scale  of  jjrices  in  the  consuming  countries.  Whether 
this  will  prove  to  be  a remedy  is  another  question,  for  the  same  speculative  reasons  which  gave  the 
impulse  to  prices  in  1853  still  remain,  superadded  to  the  already  obvious  effects  of  the  Revolution, 
nor  are  there  wanting  indications  of  aggravated  difficulties  in  the  interior ; and,  in  addition  to  all 
reasons  hitherto  alluded  to,  wre  are  now'  in  a position  1o  intimate  a very  important  new  financial  scheme 
of  this  Government , the  particulars  of  which  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  disclose,  whose  effect  will  surely 
be  to  obstruct  and  diminish  the  export  for  at  least  a year  or  two  to  come.” 

A second  reason  is  the  encouraging  success  of  the  English  experiments  in  their 
Indian  colonies.  Bayard  Taylor  says  : 

“The  introduction  of  the  tea  culture  into  India  is  an  interesting  experiment — if,  indeed,  it  can  still 
be  considered  an  experiment.  The  Government,  within  the  past  ten  years,  has  devoted  much  atten- 
tion to  it.  All  the  principal  varieties  of  the  tea  plant  have  been  imported,  experimental  gardens  laid 
out,  at  different  points  in  the  Himalayas,  from  Assam  to  the  north-western  frontier  of  the  Punjaub, 
and  Chinese  workmen  procured  to  teach  the  preparation  of  the  leaves.  Mr.  Fortune,  whose  travels 
in  China,  on  his  mission  to  effect  these  objects,  have  excited  considerable  notice,  had  been  dispatched 
a third  time  to  that  country,  to  procure  fresh  supplies  of  plants  and  workmen.  The  tea  plant  was 
first  introduced  into  Assam,  a district  next  to  Bengal,  and  lying  on  the  Brahmapootra  river.  A com- 
pany was  formed  about  fifteen  years  ago,  for  the  cultivation  and  manufacture  of  tea  ; but,  through 
ignorance  and  inexperience,  it  was  for  some  time  a losing  concern.  At  present,  however,  it  has  so  far 
succeeded  as  to  produce  300,000  pounds  of  tea,  and  to  pay  10  per  cent,  annually  to  the  company.  The 
experimental  gardens  in  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  the  Himalayas  have  been  established  more 
recently,  and  the  natives  are  now  beginning  to  take  up  the  cultivation  of  the  plant.” 

Thirdly,  a number  of  people  in  our  country  have  been  exploring  the  capacities 
of  the  plant.  I have  received  a number  of  applications  for  information  in  regard 
to  it;  the  last  from  Clatsop  Plains  in  Oregon,  the  previous  one  from  Southern  Cali- 
fornia. 

Dr.  Junius  Smith  of  Greenville,  S.  C.,  in  1850,  attempted  the  cultivation  of  tea. 
He  says,  “ Although  the  winter  has  been  rather  severe,  and  the  spring  remarkably 
cold  and  wet,  and  protracted  a month  later  than  it  was  last  year,  yet  the  same 
laws  which  govern  the  plant  in  China,  Java,  and  India,  govern  it  here.  Hot  a 
single  deficiency  in  my  small  garden  ; every  plant  had  taken  effective  root,  and 
early  in  April  the  leaf-buds  came  out  in  great  profusion,  all  standing  from  the  foot 
of  the  old  leaf-stalk.  * * * I could  now  gather  a sufficient  quantity  of  leaves  to  make 
a small  supply  of  first-rate  tea.”  He  argues  that  the  tea  possesses  a rich  and  pre- 
cious aroma  that  cannot  be  preserved  through  a long  voyage,  which  requires  in 
that  case  a firing  and  roasting  that  destroys  its  finest  qualities.  He  adds,  “ we 
have  abundance  of  fine,  cheap,  land;  with  all  the  diversity  of  soil,  climate,  and  as- 
pect that  the  plant  can  require.”  The  Chinese  interior  and  ocean  carriage  will  be 
saved.  “With  all  these  exclusive  privileges  in  our  hands,  if  we  do  not  cultivate  our 
own  tea,  then  I think  we  ought  to  be  tributary  to  those  who  call  us  barbarians." 

It  seems  to  me  then  a probability  that  with  kind  treatment,  the  patient  develop- 
ment of  their  knowledge,  and  especially  with  the  gradual  introduction  of  their 
wives  and  children,  California  may  become  a tea-producing  State.  Its  topographic 
advantages  cannot  be  excelled.  And  I see  no  insuperable  obstacle.  We  need  but 
willingness  to  wait. 

There  is  a great  variety  of  inferior,  but  valuable  products  of  the  soil — of 


17 


vegetables,  fruits  and  flowers — that  will  hereafter  cast  their  seed  upon  the  cur- 
rent that  flows  hitherward  from  that  old  continent ; but  my  present  purpose 
does  not  call  for  their  specification.  The  class  of  oleiferous  nuts  and  seeds  is 
one  of  great  usefulness.  The  fa-shang,  or  pea-nut,  has  already  been  tried  in  the 
tule  laud  near  Stockton.  The  vine  flourishes  vigorously  there,  and  produces  an 
abundant  crop.  It  will  be  remembered  that  most  of  the  common  lamp  oil  of  the 
Chinese,  which  burns  nearly  as  brightly,  though  not  so  long  as  sperm,  and  is  used 
largely  now  in  our  families,  is  expressed  from  this  nut.  It  can  be  furnished  now 
from  China  at  fully  one-third  lower  rates  than  sperm.  Or  notice  might  be 
taken  of  the  capabilities  of  the  bamboo,  which  seems  to  me  calculated  to  meet 
some  great  wants  of  the  farmers  on  the  plains  and  unwooded  hills.  It  is  employed 
in  various  parts  of  the  world  for  fences,  grows  rapidly  in  brakes,  and  affords  a 
nutritious  food,  when  young,  to  cattle.  There  are  many  very  different  varieties, 
unlike  in  color,  size  and  wood,  and  adapted  to  many  valuable  purposes.  Poles, 
ropes,  furniture,  tubes,  paper,  cups,  and  a thousand  useful  and  ornamental  things 
are  made  out  of  the  bamboo.  It  is  really  hard  to  say  to  what  purposes  this  most 
serviceable  of  all  the  gifts  of  nature  may  not  be  applied. 

But  I did  not  propose  to  offer  a treatise  on  agriculture,  or  floriculture,  or 
arboriculture  ; only  to  indicate  a few  of  the  priceless  advantages  to  be  procured 
for  these  departments  of  a people’s  solid  opulence  and  independence,  by  treating 
with  consideration  that  waif  of  a strange  stock  and  generation,  that  this  bound- 
less new  ocean,  on  whose  shores  we  have  come  to  make  our  half-built  homes,  casts 
among  the  saud  at  our  feet.* 


* It  is  with  great  pleasure  I refer  to  the  intelligence  and  spirit  which  have  characterized  the  agri- 
cultural advancements  of  California.  The  Alta  California  says  : 

“The  Executive  Committee  of  the  California  State  Agricultural  Society  held  a meeting  recently  in 
San  Jose,  and  decided  upon  a list  of  premiums  to  be  awarded  at  the  next  State  Agricultural  and  In- 
dustrial Exhibition,  which  is  to  be  held  in  San  Jose  on  the  7th  of  October  next.  A number  of  good 
premiums  are  offered,  with  the  object  of  encouraging  the  experimental  production  of  articles  which 
it  is  hoped,  may  become  staples  in  California,  but  which  have  not  yet  been  fairly  tested  here  on  any  - 
thing  like  a large  scale.  In  this  class  of  premiums  are  the  following  : 


For  the  best  acre  of  cotton $75 

“ second  best  acre  of  cotton 25 

“ best  acre  of  tobacco 75 

“ second  best  acre  of  tobacco 25 

“ best  acre  of  hemp 75 

“ second  best  acre  of  hemp 25 

“ best  acre  of  sugar-cane 75 

“ second  best  acre  of  sugar-cane 25 

“ best  acre  of  rice  150 

“ second  best  acre  of  rice 50 

“ best  fifty  pounds  of  sugar  manufactured  from  any  California  product  prom- 
ising to  be  profitable 1 50 

“ second  best  do  do  do  de 20 

“ best  five  pounds  of  sewing-silk 50 

“ second  best  five  pounds  of  sewing-silk 25 

“ best  exhibit  of  silk  cocoons 25 

“ second  best  exhibit  of  silk  cocoons 15 


“Premiums  are  also  offered  for  basket  willow,  starch,  letter  or  printing  and  wrapping  paper.  If 
these  premiums  will  have  the  effect  to  incite  our  agriculturists  to  give  the  above  articles  of  produce 
a fair  trial,  much  good  will  result  to  our  State.  If  it  can  be  proven  experimentally  that  the  immense 
tule  marshes,  now  lying  as  waste  lands  on  the  borders  of  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  rivers,  can 
be  made  available  in  the  culture  of  rice,  valueless  as  they  are  now,  they  will  at  once  assume  an  agri- 
cultural importance,  and  we  have  here  the  Chinese  population,  just  the  men  to  be  employed  in  work- 
ing them.  The  cultivation  of  rice,  we  believe,  has  never  been  tried  here,  even  on  a small  scale,  nei- 
ther has  sugar-cane,  both  of  which  are  enumerated  in  the  above  list.  Cotton  of  a very  superior 
quality  has  been  raised,  in  the  vicinity  of  Sacramento,  as  has  tobacco  also.  Hemp  has,  we  believe, 
been  grown  in  very  small  quantities.” 

2 


18 


TRANSPORTING  INTEREST. 

The  Chinese  on  landing  in  San  Francisco  usually  remain  there  hut  a few  days. 
The  permanent  residents  in  the  city  do  not  number  above  a few  hundreds.  They 
then  proceed  by  the  steamers  to  Sacramento,  Stockton,  Marysville,  and  other  points 
on  the  Sacramento  and  San  J oaquin  Rivers.  They  are  guided  very  much  by  the 
information  and  opinions  of  those  who  have  been  in  the  country  longest,  and  had 
most  experience  here  in  the  mines.  And  it  may  be  remarked  that  their  deference 
to  those  in  whom  they  find  they  can  confide  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  traits  in 
their  character. 

The  amount  of  pecuniary  benefit  derived  by  steamers,  sailing  vessels,  stages, 
wagons,  and  such  conveyances  of  passengers  and  goods  by  land  and  water,  can 
scarce  be  computed.  On  the  river  steamers  they  have  travelled  by  hundreds  on  a 
single  vessel,  particularly  during  the  periods  when  their  direct  immigration  has  been 
most  large.  Allowing  each  individual  in  the  fifty-three  thousand  arrivals  and 
twelve  thousand  departures  but  a single  trip  at  seven  dollars,  and  each  of  these 
here  one  downward  and  upward  trip  during  their  residence  till  now,  which  will  not 
seem  too  great  on  the  whole,  since  many  of  them  make  repeated  journies  in  a single 
year,  and  we  see  this  interest  during  the  past  few  years  benefitted  over  a million  of 
dollars  in  passage  money.  The  imported  from  their  own  land,  and  the  American 
groceries,  clothing,  and  other  merchandize,  consumed  by  them  annually  would  pav 
towards  the  sailing  and  steam  vessels,  in  freight,  fully  in  proportion  to  their  com- 
parative population.  They  drayage  in  cities  and  towns  has  come  in  for  its  share 
of  support.  I have  made  some  inquiries  as  to  the  profits  of  wagoners  and  stages. 
A gentleman  well  acquainted  with  the  former  business  in  Sacramento  tells  me 
“ the  Chinamen  employ  on  an  average  about  fifty  teams.  The  amount  of  loads 
per  month  is  about  three  hundred  and  twenty.  I think  the  loads  average  forty 
dollars  each.  The  stages  probably  carry  out  and  in  to  the  city  about  sixteen 
Chinamen  per  day  ; they  pay  from  five  to  ten  dollars  each.  The  amount  of 
goods  they  buy  here  is  difficult  to  give  any  kind  of  an  estimate,  but  at  least  many 
thousand  dollars.”  If  we  understand  the  calculation,  these  teamsters  have  a rev- 
enue of  twelve  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  a month,  or  a hundred  and  fifty- 
three  thousand  six  hundred  dollars  annually.  A Marysville  merchant  estimates 
the  number  of  teams  employed  there,  not  alone  by  Chinese  freights,  but  also  in 
merchandize  for  their  use,  as  at  least  “ twenty-five  to  thirty  a week.”  This,  for 
for  twenty-five  a week,  would  amount,  at  the  rate  given  above,  to  fifty  thousand 
dollars  a year.  These  facts  afford  some  ground  of  conjecture  as  to  the  amounts 
that  reach  this  hard-working  class,  whose  employment  brings  them  to  all  parts  of 
the  mining  region.  And  there  are  some,  we  are  informed,  who  have  become  rich 
through  the  profits  derived  from  Chinese  customers. 

INTEREST  OF  MINING  AND  LABORING  POPULATION. 

We  will  now  suppose  the  Chinese  immigrants  to  have  made  their  way  into  the 
interior  towns,  up  into  the  gulches,  and  to  occupation  in  mining  and  labor  of 
various  kinds.  As  far  as  we  have  considered  the  question,  most  persons  would 
agree  with  the  truth  of  what  has  been  said  ; — but  here  there  spring  up  some 
objections.  These  we  would  treat  with  respect.  Some  have  made  them  in  the 
mere  spirit  of  captiousness  and  bad  temper.  But  it  is  natural  that  our  novel 


i 


19 


and  most  peculiar  state  of  society  ; their  twanging  and  guttural  sounds,  without 
the  remotest  analogy  to  the  sonorous  and  flexible  language  that  rolls  from  our 
throats  ; their  shy  and  timid  habits  ; their  industry,  even  when  all  others  were 
lying  by;  and  the  offensiveness  of  their  vices,  should  create  impressions  unfavor- 
able to  them  and  dislike  to  their  presence,  even  among  some  of  the  best  men. 
The  wiser  wmuld  of  course  reflect  that  there  must  be  a commixture  of  good  peo- 
ple and  bad  ones  among  them  ; that  evil  as  well  as  good  must  come  from  their 
presence ; that  the  evils  would  be  first  manifested,  and  that  the  advantages  would 
be  more  slow  ; that  they  must  be  understood  to  be  fairly  judged  ; that  they  could 
not  be  expected  to  be  patterns  of  morality,  where  they  were  surrounded  by  so 
many  temptations  and  examples  to  the  contrary.  And,  again,  the  Christian  wmuld 
look  upon  them  with  a pitiful  heart.  But  still,  it  was  not  strange  that  the  mul- 
titude were  against  them. 

The  objections  may  be  classed  under  two  heads  : — First,  that  these  strangers 
are  of  no  pecuniary  benefit  to  California ; that  they  interfere  with  American 
labor  ; and  that  they  carry  nearly  all  they  make  out  of  the  country.  Second, 
that  their  vices  make  them  dangerous  to  our  people,  and  to  our  posterity. 

Now,  let  us  meet  these  difficulties  fairly;  and  first,  as  to  their  profitableness, 
not  alone  to  the  commercial  interest,  in  their  transit,  and  to  the  agriculturist 
prospectively,  but  in  their  present  employments,  and  as  they  are. 

It  is  assumed  that  there  are  about  forty  thousand  men,  and  a couple  of  thou- 
sand women,  in  the  State.  It  is  assumed  that  full  three-fourths  of  the  men  are 
miners,  and  no  allowance  will  be  made  for  the  necessary  outlays  of  the  women. 

FOREIGN  MINERS’  LICENSES. 

The  income  from  the  Chinese  about  which  most  has  been  said  in  our  newspapers 
is  that  from  “ foreign  miners’  licenses.”  The  report  of  the  Comptroller  of  State, 
for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 1855,  estimated  the  half  coming  to  the  State 
treasury  during  the  next  year,  at  $150,000.  The  last  report  estimates  that  for 
the  year  ending  June,  1856,  at  $160,000.  The  Hon.  Messrs.  Crenshaw  and  Nor- 
man, in  a committee  report  to  the  last  Legislature,  stated  that  “ the  whole  num- 
ber of  foreign  miners’  licenses  issued  to  the  mining  counties  in  this  State,  for  the 
year  1854,  was  103,140,  worth  $412,560.”  And  yet  the  actual  receipts  acknowl- 
edged fall  below  even  these  estimates.  The  question  is,  what  have  the  Chinese 
probably  paid  ? I confess  myself  dissatisfied  with  the  apparent  result.  The 
irregularities  in  official  reports,  and  the  acknowledged  deficits  of  several  of  the 
Collectors,  still  do  not  come  up  to  the  estimates  of  merchants,  miners,  the  Chi- 
nese themselves,  and  the  presumption  in  the  case.  Allowing  lull  ten  thousand, 
which  seems  a liberal  proportion — one-fourth  of  the  Chinese — to  be  engaged  in 
other  employments ; then  granting  that  but  two  out  of  three  are  at  work,  that 
is,  one-third  of  the  miners  sick,  traveling,  or  unemployed  ; and  we  still  have 
twenty  thousand  subject  to  the  tax.  Grant  but  the  half  of  the  miners  employed, 
and  there  are  still  fifteen  thousand.  And  yet,  at  four  dollars  a mouth  for  the 
license,  (though  it  was  six  dollars  the  last  quarter.)  the  sum  of  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  would  show  collections  to  have  been  made  last  year  from  but 
six  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty.  One  cannot  conceive  how  the  labor  of  six 
thousand  working  miners  can  support  some  twenty-four  thousand  men  in  this 
costly  State.  Most  certainly  it  is  within  the  power  of  the  State,  without 
oppression,  and  at  the  rate  of  four  dollars  per  month,  at  least  to  double  its  present 


20 


income  from  this  source  ; and  the  counties  of  course  share  proportionally  with 
any  reform  there  may  be  in  this  department.  It  is  needless  to  attempt  an  esti- 
mate of  the  aggregate  income  to  the  various  treasuries  from  a variety  of  taxes, 
licenses  and  assessments,  the  sum  of  which  is  considerable,  and  helps  to  that 
extent  to  sustain  the  local  officers  and  aid  public  improvements. 

INTEREST  OF  LANDED  PROPERTY. 

The  amount  paid  for  rents,  and  for  mining  claims,  is  an  immense  sum  ; higher, 
in  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  property  obtained,  than  by  any  other  people.  It 
is  beyond  more  than  a vague  conclusion.  The  following  estimate,  from  the  best 
evidence  I can  obtain,  affords  some  basis  for  calculation.  There  are  in 

San  Francisco,  about  30  houses,  averaging  SI 20  per  month,  in  all,  $3,600 


« “ “ 40  “ “ 100  “ “ 4,000 

“ “ “ 60  “ “ 60  “ “ 3,600 

'•  “ storage,  say, : 2,000 


Total, $13,200 

Sacramento,  50  houses,  averaging  $60  per  month,  in  all, 3,000 

Marysville,  20  “ “ 50  “ “ 1,000 

Stockton,  8 “ “ 40  “ “ 320 

Auburn,  30  “ “ 40  “ “ 1,200 

Jackson,  20  “ “ 30  “ “ 600 


Monthly  total, $19,320 


Annual  total  in  the  six  places, $231,840 


There  are  many  towns  and  camps  through  the  country,  where  three,  five  or  ten 
houses,  it  would  be  found  on  inquiry,  are  rented,  for  various  sums,  to  Chinese. 
At  first  mention  it  may  seem  questionable,  yet  possibly  the  entire  income  from 
rents  and  leases,  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  might  prove  to  be  half  a million  a 
year.  This  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  to  be  only  a conjecture. 

MINING  CLAIMS  AND  IMPLEMENTS. 

In  addressing  gentlemen,  many  of  whom  are  from  the  mining  districts,  it  is 
needless  to  say  that  their  superior  knowledge  will  find  some  of  the  estimates  un- 
der the  following  heads,  placed  too  high,  others  too  low.  Yet,  I will  endeavor 
to  follow  such  light  as  I have  been  able  to  obtain  from  persoual  visits,  conversa- 
tions, and  the  newspapers  of  the  State. 

To  get  an  idea  of  the  ordinary  expenditures,  let  us  notice,  first,  the  amount  of 
money  invested  in  claims.  We  may  hear  of  as  much  as  $1,500,  or  more,  having 
been  paid  by  a company  of  Chinamen,  though  such  instances  are  rare ; but  $300, 
or  $500,  is  often  given  for  ground  that  is  worked  out  in  a few  weeks.  It  has 
been  considered  not  an  exaggerated  estimate,  that  twenty  thousand,  or  two-thirds 
of  the  mines,  would  pay  four  dollars  a month,  the  same  amount  as  the  license,  on 
this  score.  Yet  this  would  make  an  aggregate  of  eighty  thousand  dollars  a 
month,  when  we  count  up  all  that  are  scattered  over  the  State.  However,  lest 
even  this  be  objected  to,  let  us  include  under  that  head  the  outlays  for  water, 
which  is  rated  often  at  two  dollars  a day.  Add  for  mining  tools,  sheet-iron, 
lumber,  canvas  for  tents,  leather,  and  other  expenses  connected  with  mining  and 
shelter,  six  dollars  a month.  These  items,  in  some  respects  the  most  important 
connected  with  their  labor,  amount  to  two  million,  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 


21 


in  the  year.  Some  of  the  most  experienced  American  miners  say  that  the  Chi- 
nese lay  out  as  much  money  for  these  articles  as  themselves;  and  that  amount 
would,  in  this  case,  certainly  not  seem  a large  estimate. 

BOARDING  AND  PROVISIONS. 

In  the  towns  the  Chinese  indulge  in  a greater  variety  of  food  ; while  in  the 
mountains  many  articles  are  more  expensive.  They  think  three  dollars  a week, 
say  twelve  dollars  a month,  a low  calculation.  This  is  a hundred  and  forty-four 
dollars  a year  for  the  whole  number.  A large  share  of  this  goes  to  butchers  and 
farmers  in  the  mines,  and  to  our  own  traders. 

CLOTHING  AND  BEDDING. 

The  immigrants  bring  always  a chest  of  clothes  and  a bundle  of  bedding. 
But  the  amount  of  these  articles  is  small,  so  that  in  a year  or  so  you  may  notice 
American  pants,  then  shirts,  then  coats  and  caps  or  hats.  Servants,  and  a few 
merchants,  dress  in  good  broadcloth — some  quite  handsomely.  Many  purchase 
watches,  and  a less  number  rings,  fanciful  studs  or  buttons,  and  other  jewelry. 
Allow,  however,  for  pantaloons,  shirts,  coats,  and  caps  or  hats,  thirteen  dollars 
in  the  year.  For  blankets  and  other  articles  of  household  use,  say  seven  dollars 
a year. 

BOOTS  AND  SHOES. 

But  the  first  thing  our  friend  John  mounts,  is  a pair  of  the  largest  boots  he 
can  find.  Working  in  the  water,  they  sometimes  knock  out  a pair  in  a month. 
These  cost  them  three  to  five  dollars  the  pair.  They  complain  of  this  outlay  as 
one  of  the  heaviest  to  which  they  are  subject.  Put  down  boots  at  a lower  figure 
than  some  of  them  sanction,  and  say,  for  boots,  and  also  shoes,  which  are  worn 
about  the  camp  slipshod,  twenty  dollars  a year. 

Eight  dollars  a year  would  certainly  not  cover  miscellaneous  expenses. 

Reckon  up  these  items,  connected  with  mountain  life  and  labor,  and  we  may 
be  surprized  to  find  the  result.  And  yet  that  result  might  be  shown  by  more 
complete  information  to  be  much  below  the  truth.  It  is — 


For  mining  claims,  implements  and  water, $2,400,000 

“ boarding 5,760,000 

“ clothing 800,000 

“ boots  and  shoes 800,000 

“ miscellaneous  items 320,000 


Total  ordinary  outlays $10,080,000 


THEIR  SMALL  PROFITS. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  some  of  our  citizens  that  the  Chinese  spend  but  little  here, 
and  carry  the  larger  part  of  the  proceeds  of  their  labors  home  to  China.  But 
after  the  fullest  inquiry  among  themselves  and  our  people  I am  satisfied  this  is 
not  correct.  Their  claims  are  the  poorest,  and  there  are  many  draughts  upon 
them  for  licenses,  taxes,  assistence  of  their  poor  countrymen,  their  companies, 
charitable  purposes,  &c. ; they  meet  with  many  losses  from  robberies,  ignorance, 
and  in  other  ways,  so  that  but  few  send  or  carry  back  any  large  amounts. 

THEY  SPEND  FREELY. 

It  it  the  testimony  of  the  most  reliable  merchants  in  the  country,  that  no  idea 


22 


concerning  the  Chinese  is  more  incorrect  than  that  they  live  on  the  meanest  diet, 
and  that  almost  wholly  imported  from  China.  They  are  very  economical,  and  are 
sharp  traders  ; yet  the  statement  is  repeatedly  made,  in  the  mines,  with  an  air  of 
truth,  that  the  Chinese  live  even  better  than  any  other  people ; that  they  yield 
more  to  animal  gratifications ; and  indulge  in  feasts,  some  of  them  celebrations 
of  religious  or  national  holidays,  others  mere  convivial  occasions  with  friends. 
And  when  these  occur  they  appear  wholly  regardless  of  expense,  paying  several 
dollars  for  a single  fowl.  They  are  fond  of  neat  and  rich,  but  not  gaudy  dress, 
and  not  a few  sport  costly  gold  watches  and  ornaments. 

EMPLOYED  BY  MINERS. 

The  practical  miners  are  not  only  profited  by  the  purchases  of  claims,  and  the 
sums  paid  to  their  hydraulic  companies,  but  also  by  the  employment  of  the  Chi- 
nese to  work  as  hands.  In  some  portions  of  the  State,  the  Chinese  are  exclu- 
sively employed  in  this,  preferring  to  wmrk  at  reasonable  steady  rates  rather  than 
be  subjected  to  the  expenses,  uncertainty,  and  difficulties  connected  with  holding 
claims  of  their  own. 

“ In  El  Dorado  county,  says  the  Mountain  Democrat,  they  rarely  interfere  with 
the  miners.  They  generally  work  in  old  deserted  claims,  where  they  cannot 
realize  more  than  from  two  to  three  dollars  a day,  and  seldom  this  much.  When 
they  get  a good  claim  they  buy  it  and  pay  liberally  for  it.  Business  in  some  of 
the  small  mining  camps  in  our  county  would  be  wholly  suspended  during  the 
summer  months  were  it  not  for  them.  They  are  content  to  work  laboriously  for 
two  dollars  a day,  and  work  claims  which  no  others  would.  They  make  good 
hands,  and  are  frequently  hired  by  the  miners.  We  have  heard  but  little  com- 
plaint against  them  by  the  miners,  and  the  feeling  which  at  first  existed  against 
them,  and  which  was  greatly  exaggerated,  is  fast  wearing  away.  They  are  a 
sober,  quiet,  industrious,  inoffensive  class  of  men,  and,  in  our  opinion,  are  a great 
benefit  to  our  county.  They  pay  annually  into  our  treasury,  for  licenses  alone, 
from  sixty  to  eighty  thousand  dollars — a sum  we  cannot  afford  to  lose.  They 
pay  our  merchants  promptly  for  every  article  they  buy.  They  attend  to  their  own 
business,  and  are  rarely  engaged  in  brawls.  The  mines  they  work  would  be  un- 
productive were  it  not  for  them,  being  too  poor  to  pay  others  for  working  them. 
Where  is  the  miner  in  our  county  who  would  toil  from  ‘ early  morn  till  dewy  eve  ’ 
for  two  dollars  a day,  with  no  prospect  of  obtaining  more  ? A Chinaman  will 
do  it  cheerfully,  but  other  miners  will  not.  For  the  last  year  but  few  of  them 
have  worked  on  their  own  account,  being  principally  hired  by  miners.” 

CORROBORATION  OF  THESE  GENERAL  STATEMENTS. 

To  place  this  branch  of  the  subject  iu  the  clearest  light  possible,  I have  ob- 
tained the  opinions  of  intelligent  friends,  resident  in  the  mountains,  or  having  ex- 
tensive dealings  and  intercourse  with  the  Chinese  there. 

The  first  is  a letter  from  a gentleman  whose  employment  leads  him  to  travel 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  State,  and  to  become  acquainted  with  all 
classes  of  men.  He  says  : 

“At  your  request  I present  you  in  brief  my  views  respecting  the  Chinese  in  our 
country,  that  most  unfortunate  and  least  appreciated  class  of  foreigners,  with  whom 
we  are  here  brought  into  contact.  Now,  in  the  cities  are  seen  the  very  worst 
specimens  of  them;  but  iu  my  travels  through  the  different  parts  of  the  mining 


23 


regions  of  California  since  ’49,  and  especially  daring  the  past  nine  months,  in 
frequent  journeys  extending  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Feather  to  the  Mer- 
ced, I can  say  decidedly  I believe,  that  among  the  American  mining  population 
there  is  no  other  class  of  foreign  miners  who  do  not  speak  our  language,  who 
sustain  as  high  a character  for  industry,  honesty,  and  direct  patronage  of  Amer- 
ican productions  and  enterprise.  I have  often  enquired  of  merchants  as  to  their 
business  with  the  Chinese,  and  almost  always  been  answered  that  their  trade  was 
very  extensive  and  important ; that  while  they  consume  large  quantities  of  im- 
ported provisious  from  China,  yet  that  they  purchase  much  that  is  American, 
often  even  that  which  is  most  expensive,  even  luxuries  such  as  chickens,  eggs, 
fresh  meats  in  cans,  pork,  even  when  it  might  be  twice  as  dear  as  beef,  melons, 
fruit,  &c.;  that  the  Chinese  would  purchase  when  the  expense  was  such  as  to  deter 
Americans,  for  the  Chinese  would  have  what  they  wanted,  cost  what  it  may. 
They  are  generally  free  from  drunkenness,  quarrels,  and  lazy  habits  which  charac- 
terize many  others  in  the  mines,  and  labor  faithfully,  satisfied  when  none  others 
will  work.  I have  just  called  upon  an  agent  of  the  California  Stage  Company 
in  this  place,  and  was  told  by  him  that,  to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  taking  all 
their  stage  routes  together,  full  one-quarter  of  their  passengers  during  the  last 
year  had  been  Chinese  ; that  they  patronize  public  conveyances  in  proportion 
to  their  numbers  more  than  Americans.  I find,  also,  that  the  Chinese  are  often 
employed  as  cooks,  and  are  very  well  spoken  of  as  such,  as  also  in  other  kindred 
occupations.  They  seem  almost  to  be  universally  respected  among  the  mining 
and  laboring  portion  of  the  inhabitants.  I can  say  decidedly,  I believe,  that 
among  the  working  classes  in  the  mountains,  they  are  truly  considered  as  worthy 
of  much  regard,  and  the  strong  feeling  is  that  they  ought  not  to  be  taxed  as 
high  as  they  are;  that  they  ought  to  have  legal  protection  from  those  who 
rob  and  steal  fiom  them,  even  to  murdering  them,  for  they  have  no  redress  un- 
less an  American  is  witness  to  the  deed,  and  comes  in  with  the  law  to  their 
relief;  and  that  their  oath  ought  to  be  allowed  in  legal  tribunals,  at  least  so  far 
that  a jury  or  court  might,  if  it  judged  best,  receive  their  testimony.  I am 
strongly  of  opinion  that  the  opposition  to  the  Chinese  arises  from  prejudice,  and 
not  from  their  interfering  with  any  American  interests;  and  is  almost  entirely 
confined  to  the  unproducing  class  in  our  country — to  gamblers,  loafers,  liquor 
dealers,  &c.  If  the  question  should  be  proposed  to  the  working  miners,  not 
shall  we  encourage  other  Chinese  to  come  here,  for  this  might  not  be  best,  but 
shall  we  protect  and  encourage,  aid  and  benefit  those  who  are  already  now  here, 
equally  with  the  Spanish  and  other  foreigners  who  do  not  speak  our  language  ? 
their  almost  unanimous  reply  would  be  decidedly,  Yes ; for  they  equally  benefit 
us,  are  equally  worthy  of  respect,  and  have  equally  a right  to  protection ; let 
their  present  onerous  tax  be  reduced,  and  their  oath  be  allowed,  so  as  to  have 
redress  against  those  who  steal,  rob  and  extort  from  them,  even  to  murdering 
them  in  many  cases.” 

The  following  is  a letter  from  an  influential  merchant  in  the  city  of  Marys- 
ville : 

“ It  is  impossible  for  me  to  give  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  amount  of  goods 
sold  in  this  city  to  Chinamen.  I have  conversed  with  several  of  the  mountain 
merchants,  and  they  give  it  as  their  opinion  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  their 
sales  to  Chinamen  are  for  American  products.  Almost  every  merchant  in  the 
mines  has  more  or  less  Chinese  trade,  and  a good  many  of  them  are  dependent  al- 
most entirely  on  them  for  their  business.  The  following  are  the  kind  of  goods, 


24 


provisions,  &c.,  they  consume  the  most  of : potatoes,  cabbage,  pork,  chickens, 
flour,  and  almost  every  article  of  vegetables  raised  in  this  State — they  buy  cloth- 
ing, shoes,  boots,  blankets,  American  brandy,  whiskey,  gin,  hams,  beans,  lard, 
codfish,  lobsters,  and  almost  every  article  of  American  production  to  some  extent. 
As  they  become  Americanized,  the  demand  for  American  products  increases  with 
them.  Their  trade  is  valuable,  being  almost  entirely  cash.  They  are  generally 
prompt  in  meeting  their  contracts.  They  are  shrewd  and  close  dealers,  but  spend 
their  money  freely  for  luxuries  and  comfort — it  is  said  when  a Chinaman  does  not 
live  well  it  is  because  he  has  not  the  money  to  procure  such  as  he  would  like.  The 
Chinamen  say  that  the  estimate  is  made  that  they  spend  in  the  country  seven- 
tenths  on  an  average  of  all  the  money  they  make.  Dealers  with  them  in  the 
mines  are  of  the  opinion  their  estimate  is  nearly  correct;  that  is,  of  those  I have 
conversed  with.  There  are  about  twelve  or  fifteen  teams  on  an  average  per  week 
leaving  this  city  with  loads  for  Chinese  merchants  in  the  mines.  This  I should 
think  is  about  correct,  but  the  amount  taken  out  by  American  merchants  to  supply 
their  Chinese  trade  is  a great  deal  more.  To  say  the  amount  is  equal,  it  would  give 
employment  to  twenty-five  or  thirty  teams  per  week,  which  I think  is  under  the 
actual  number.  Look  at  our  public  conveyances,  and  you  will  see  them  generally 
crowded  with  Chinamen — for  a Chinaman  was  never  known  to  walk  when  there 
was  any  chance  to  ride.  Many  of  the  stage  routes  could  not  be  sustained  were  it 
not  for  them.  They  are  fond  of  travelling,  and  do  not  remain  long  in  one  place. 
From  these  hints  you  can  draw  your  own  estimates.  I am  pleased  to  learn  that 
some  steps  are  about  to  be  taken  to  endeavor  to  get  the  exhorbitant  and  unjust 
tax  reduced;  and  have  no  doubt,  could  the  people  vote  on  the  subject,  a large  ma- 
jority would  decide  against  the  present  tax.” 

Mr.  S — — , a butcher  in  the  Southern  mines,  says  : “ I often  sell  as  much  as 
four  hundred  weight  of  beef  a day  to  the  Chinamen,  and  charge  them  sixteen  to 
twenty  cents  a pound.  They  hardly  ever  ask  for  it  for  less  if  they  are  treated 
fairly  and  get  good  weight.  I liked  them  very  much  as  a people,  and  used  to 
befriend  them  in  many  of  their  troubles,  in  which  they  used  to  always  come  to  me. 

They  preferred  pork,  even  at  twenty-five  cents  a pound.  I have  sold  in  one  day 
as  high  as  fourteen  hogs,  averaging  seventy-five  pounds  each.  They  will  pay  as 
high  as  a dollar  a pound  for  nice  dried  sausage.  They  are  very  fond  of  fowls, 
and  buy  a great  many.  For  a large  one  they  pay  two  dollars,  the  general  price 
now  is  about  a dollar  and  a half.  But  I have  sold  a fat  chicken  at  three  dollars 
and  a half,  for  a feast.  They  like  fish  too,  whenever  they  can  be  got,  and  use  dried 
or  salt  fish  daily. 

As  for  the  clothes  they  buy,  I would  rather  have  a trade  with  them  than  with 
white  people.  Small  stocks  will  do,  and  they  are  not  so  particular  about  fits. 
It  is  a great  advantage  to  men  that  have  not  much  capital  to  trade  with.  The 
profits  are  greater  than  on  finer  goods.  They  use  most  of  the  articles  we  do,  and 
like  to  dress  well  on  particular  occasions.  They  wear  not  only  flannel  shirts,  but 
check  also,  and  a good  many  French  prints. 

The  general  articles  they  use  are  profitable.  There  is  as  much  made  on  liquors 
sold  them  as  almost  anything  else.  Men  put  on  them  shameful  mean  stuff ; and 
they  always  keep  liquor  in  the  camp,  and  they  use  it  at  their  meals.  They  like 
a milder  tobacco, — get  a considerable  amount  of  American  tobacco,  and  shave 
it  down,  to  smoke,  and  make  little  cigaritas.  They  have  just  as  good  tents,  every 
bit,  as  other  people,  and  use  a great  deal  of  drilling  and  canvas  for  hose. 


25 


The  Chinamen  are  the  best  customers  the  stages  have.  They  never  ask  for 
passage  free,  and  pay  down  without  trouble.  Nearly  every  good  citizen  in  this 
country  would  vote  to  keep  them  here,  aud  in  fact  takes  their  part  when  they 
get  into  difficulty.  They  are  amone  the  quietest  and  best  we  have.” 

We  have  the  following  testimony  that  the  Chinese  use  all  kinds  of  American 
groceries  and  merchandize,  from  a gentleman  engaged  in  heavy  business  : 

“ The  principal  articles  purchased  by  the  Chinese  population,  in  my  line  of 
business,  take  a very  wide  range,  embracing  nearly  all  those  in  use  amongst  our 
general  population.  I have  found  the  Chinese  particularly  prompt  in  fulfilling 
their  engagements  with  me,  both  in  sales  and  purchases,  and  I have  transacted  a 
comparatively  large  amount  of  business  with  them.  I find,  on  reference  to  my 
book,  that  the  articles  most  permanent  in  my  sales  are,  salt  fish,  pork,  lard,  salt, 
liquors,  flour,  tea,  sardines,  preserved  meats,  raisins,  olive  oil,  maccaroni  and  ver- 
micelli, paper  and  matches,  together  with  a variety  of  other  articles  that  are  either 
the  product  of  American  industry,  or  pay  a large  profit  in  the  way  of  trade.” 

An  auctioneer  in  San  Franciseo,  who  sells  daily  to  Chinese  customers,  writes 
that  “ butter  ” is  the  only  article,  to  his  knowledge,  that  they  do  not  buy. 

“ Being  engaged  in  the  provision  trade  in  the  city  of  San  Francisco  since  1850, 
we  say  with  pleasure,  that  we  have  had  a fair  proportion  of  the  Chinese  trade. 
They  use  the  luxuries,  or  we  may  say  dauties  of  life,  in  a greater  profusion  than 
our  own  countrymen,  being,  as  a general  thing,  extremely  fond  of  good  living, 
and  sparing  no  expense  to  attain  it.  They  are  consumers  of  every  variety  of  mer- 
chandize, with  one  exception.  Butter  is  an  article  not  used  by  them,  but  no  doubt 
will  be  as  they  become  used  to  our  manners  and  customs.” 

The  North  Californian,  a spirited  paper  published  in  Oroville,  Butte  county, 
gives  us  a specimen  of  what  we  frequently  of  late  have  seen  uttered  by  the  press 
of  the  mountain  districts  : 

“ As  we  have  once  said,  so  do  we  now  repeat,  that  we  are  ready  to  sanction 
any  honorable  measure  to  prevent  our  country  from  being  overrun  with  fresh 
hordes  of  Asiatics,  but  while  we  are  willing  to  do  this,  we  protest  against  the 
application  of  the  rack  and  thumb-screw  to  the  poor  and  unassuming  Mongolians 
now  unavoidably  among  us. 

“ For  two  years  past,  a very  large  portion  of  the  gold  taken  from  the  mines 
has  been  the  product  of  Chinese  labor ; and  the  traders  in  mining  localities  can 
attest  that  a very  small  portion  of  this  has  ever  been  carried  out  of  the  country, 
the  assertions  of  city  editors  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Chinese  labor  has 
literally  kept  alive  the  trade  of  most  of  the  mining  towns  during  the  past  season. 
The  richer  mines — all  claimed  or  owned  by  the  whites — have  been  poorly  supplied 
with  water  ; little  work  has  been  done,  and  little  gold  has  therefore  been  drawn 
from  that  quarter  ; but  all  the  time  the  patient  and  plodding  Johns  are  delving 
among  the  rocks  and  ravines  of  the  foot-hills — in  places  where  a white  man  would 
starve,  rather  than  work  in  at  all — packing  water  in  buckets  to  rock  out  their  six 
bits  a day  to  buy  their  daily  provender,  and  pay  the  tax  gatherer  for  the  poor 
privilege  of  working. 

“John  Chinaman  always  has  a little  money;  because  he  must  and  will  work, 
whether  he  earns  much  or  little.  He  must  have  cash  or  starve,  for  he  can’t  get 
trusted  for  his  food,  and  so  he  comes  ‘ down  with  the  dust.’  In  this  way,  aud  by 
means  of  the  oppressive  tax  which  he  pays  for  the  privilege  of  laboring,  he  con- 
tributes more  to  sustain  trade,  and  to  support  a government  which  refuses  him 
2* 


26 


the  least  protection,  than  many  worse  specimens  of  humanity  of  a more  favored 
race,  who  affect  to  sneer  at  him  as  being  no  better  than  a beast.  ‘ Let  justice  be 
done  though  the  heavens  should  fall,’  and  let  it  be  done  to  John  Chinaman.” 

The  Empire  County  Argus  presents  the  following  views,  which  are  important 
as  speaking  the  sentiments  of  people  in  one  of  our  heaviest  mining  counties  ; and 
they  have  been  repeatedly  expressed  by  some  of  the  most  intelligent  and  influen- 
tial men  from  other  parts  of  the  mining  region  : 

“If  foreigners  are  to  be  excluded  from  the  mines  at  all,  let  the  sweep  be  universal-excluding 
every  tongue  and  nation,  in  the  absence  of  full  and  complete  papers  of  naturalization  . 

“ We  doubt  the  policy  of  excluding  the  Chinese,  even,  as  well  as  other  foreigners,  from  the  mines. 
Such  a procedure  will  appear  like  a violation  of  good  faith.  The  policy  of  the  State  and  General  Gov- 
ernments, hitherto,  has  been  to  encourage  the  immigration  of  people  from  all  coun  tries.  This  has 
been  done  with  the  implied  if  not  direct  promise  of  equal  privileges.  All  that  should  now  be  done  is, 
to  impose  an  effectual  check  upon  an  obnoxious  immigration,  and  not  violate  good  faith  with  people 
already  within  our  borders.  It  is  well  to  remember,  that  to  exclude  the  Chinese  from  our  mineral 
lands  will  deprive  the  State  of  one  great  source  of  revenue,  besides  throwing  a large  class  from  one 
localitv,  where  they  now  earn  their  living,  into  another  portion  of  the  State,  where  their  presence  is 
now  comparatively  unknown.  Nothing  can  be  gained  on  the  score  of  public  policy,  by  removing  a 
nuisance  from  one  parallel  of  latitude  to  another.  The  idea  of  excluding  the  Chinese  from  the  mines, 
under  penalties  to  be  enforced  by  the  sale  of  their  claims  and  effects,  is  sheer  nonsense.  In  ninety- 
nine  cases  out  of  every  hundred,  their  claims  and  entire  collection  of  wares  would  not  sell  under 
execution  for  a dime.  Being  forbidden  to  work  in  the  mines,  no  title  to  their  claims  would  follow  a 
sale,  and  their  goods  are  notoriously  of  no  value  whatever  except  to  themselves.  Hence,  with  a pro- 
vision only  of  this  kind,  they  could  and  would  repeat  the  offence  daily,  of  extracting  gold,  with  im- 
punity. Besides,  a course  of  this  kind  would  require  ten  thousand  sheriffs,  to  look  up  and  punish  the 
celestial  offenders. 

“Again,  we  would  like  to  know  why  a citizen  of  the  State,  engaged  in  mining,  would  not  have  just 
as  good  a right  to  hire  foreigners  ineligible  to  citizenship  to  work  for  him  in  the  mines,  as  an  agricul- 
turist has  to  employ  him  in  cultivating  vegetables.  We  are  of  the  number  who  believe  the  Legisla- 
ture of  this  State  has  no  power  whatever  to  make  a distinction  of  the  kind  ; and  furthermore,  the 
miners  of  this  State  will  not  permit  a distinction  of  the  kind  to  exist. 

“ In  point  of  revenue  derived  from  foreigners,  El  Dorado  county  is  an  example.  This  county  to-day 
is  out  of  debt,  and  has  in  her  treasury  a respectable  amount  of  cash,  in  the  shape  of  an  available 
surplus.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  foreign  miners’  tax  collected  in  this  county  within  the  past  two 
years,  we  should  now  have  been  wofully  in  debt,  with  our  scrip  selling  at  thirty  and  forty  cents  on 
the  dollar — unless,  forsooth,  the  rate  of  taxation  had  been  doubled  on  our  citizens. 

“Within  the  fifteen  months  ending  Jan.  3d,  1855,  our  county  treasury  has 


Received  from  foreign  miners $41,134  87 

Receipts  in  State  treasury,  from  same  source 41,134  87 

Officers  collecting  this  revenue  have  received  for  their  services 32,3C2  40 

Balance  somewhere,  but  unaccounted  for 947  86 


Total  collections  for  fifteen  months $115,580  00 


“ Send  the  Chinese  out  of  El  Dorado  and  the  mines  generall}',  and  our  citizens  will  have  $35,000  to 
$40,000  per  annum  to  pay  out  of  their  own  pockets,  instead  of  deriving  it  from  the  labor  of  China- 
men, as  now.  Besides  this,  four  or  five  tax-collectors  will  be,  in  the  aggregate,  out  and  injured  to  the 
tun©  of  $30,000  per  annum.  Meantime,  the  State  treasury  will  be  loser  in  the  game  in  the  snug  sum 
of  about  $150,000  per  annum,  from  the  several  mining  counties.” 

ILLUSTRATION— CHINESE  CAMP. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  advantages  of  the  settlement  of  Chinese  in  any  given 
mining  locality,  let  us  adduce  the  case  of  “ Chinese  Camp,”  Tuolumne  county. 
And  no  doubt  many  could  be  furnished  equally  satisfactory.  A gentleman  there 
has  compiled  for  my  use  the  following  complete  and  interesting  exhibit : 

“ Firstly,  Chinese  Camp  and  Montezuma  Citj',  three  miles  distant,  have  been  established  and 
grown  up  into  fine  towns  through  the  influx  of  Chinese.  The  principal  portion  of  the  houses,  in  the 
most  business  portion  of  the  town,  are  rented  from  Americans  resident  there.  The  number  of  houses 
thus  occupied,  and  the  names  of  the  parties  from  whom  they  are  obtained,  I give  below.  It  is  con- 
sidered best  to  furnish  these  definitely,  as  some  might  otherwise  doubt  the  verity  of  the  statement. 


27 


I am  personally  acquainted  with  the  proprietors  of  the  houses,  together  with  their  names.  I 
also  furnish  the  number  of  houses,  and  the  rate  per  month.  "When  I told  the  wealthiest  merchant  in 
the  township,  a few  days  ago,  the  large  amount  paid  by  the  Chinese  Torrents  alone,  he  could  not  be- 
lieve it  until  I showed  him  the  list  of  houses.  He  was  amazed,  and  exclaimed  to  me  4 why  that  is 
more  than  the  benefits,  or  rather  the  profits,  on  all  trade,  mercantile  and  mechanical,  in  the  town- 
ship ; f and  he  remarked  tome  c if  it  were  not  for  Chinamen  here  we’d  shut  up  shop;  business  would 
be  too  slack  for  one  half  the  people  here.’  The  following  is  the  list  referred  to  : 


Messrs.  Cobb  & Co., 

1 house,  monthly 

“ Miller  Ac  Co., 

i 

“ U 

Mr.  Miller, 

i 

tt  a 

Mr.  Martin, 

i 

it  a 

Mr.  Feltner, 

i 

it  it 

Mr.  Holman, 

i 

it  tt 

Messrs.  Buck  Ac  Co., 

i 

tt  tt 

Dr  Sill, 

i 

it  tt 

Mr.  Johnson, 

2 

a tt 

Mr.  Graham, 

1 

it  “ 

Messrs.  Raymond  Ac  Co. 

, 1 

tt  (c 

Mr.  Gooding, 

2 

(c  it 

Mr.  Goodridge, 

1 

tt  << 

Mr.  Boynton, 

1 

tt  it 

Mr.  Danielson, 

1 

it  tt 

Mr.  Smith, 

1 

tt  it 

Mr.  Brown, 

1 

It  (< 

IX  M05TEZUMA  CITY,  AS 

Mr.  A.  Sampson, 

1 

tt  tt 

Mr.  Toomy, 

1 

tt  tt 

Messrs.  Brown  Ac  Co., 

1 

tt  a 

“ “ “ 

1 

tt  <c 

Total  paid  for  rents  there,  monthly, 
Or,  in  annual  amount, 


rent 

$50  00 

it 

25  00 

“ 65  00 

“ 65  00 

<( 

55  00 

It 

135  00 

tt 

25  00 

It 

50  00 

a 

tt 

2-5  00 

125  00 

a 

105  00 

tt 

40  00 

“ 15  00 

“ 'j 

44  >120  00 

FOLLOWS  : 

$30  00 

tt 

12  00 

tt 

40  00 

it 

....  35  00 

$12,504  00 

“Then  as  for  their  mining,  look  at  what  becomes  of  its  proceeds.  First, }there  are  about  six  hundred 
of  them  mining  in  the  township.  Admitting  that  five  hundred  of  them  pay  the  monthly  tax  of  $6 
each,  they  help  the  revenue  to  the  County,  State  and  collectors  to  the  amount  of  $3000  a month,  or 
$36,000  a year.  They  have  paid  heavy  sums  to  the  Hydraulic  Companies  for  the  water  they  used  to 
mine  with  ; thus,  in  Montezuma  and  Belvedere  Flats  there  are  at  the  least  calculation  from  fifty  to 
seventy  long  toms  that  pay  $2  daily,  which  would  rate  over  $100  per  diem.  The  Chinese  miners  have 
bought  their  claims  from  the  American  miners  in  the  township,  which  cost  them  in  all,  this  fall  and 
winter,  over  $10,000.  Even  for  the  water  in  Chinese  Camp  alone  they  use  for  cooking  purposes  they 
pay  $15  00  per  month  to  each  well.  There  are  four  hotels  in  Chinese  Camp  and  one  in  Montezuma, 
the  proprietors  told  me  they  paid  over  $30  00  per  month  each  for  firewood,  which  is  $150  00  per  month. 
Admitting  the  remainder  of  the  mercantile  houses  only  paid  $80  00  to  other  parties  monthly,  which  is 
too  small  a calculation,  this  would  make  the  firewood  bill  $230  00  per  month.  There  is  on  an  average 
each  month  about  $500  00  paid  to  the  farmers  for  hogs  and  fowls.  There  are  six  blacksmith  shops, 
and  the  seventh  is  erecting  at  present  in  the  township.  There  are  four  carpenter’s  shops  where  a 
number  of  mechanics  are  employed,  at  which  they  say  upwards  of  one-half  of  their  business  is  from 
Chinese.  There  are  two  livery  stables  in  the  township,  both  well  supplied  with  horses,  and  paying 
well  at  present.  The  principal  patrons,  they  say,  are  Chinese.  There  are  two  Shoemaker’s  shops,  of 
which  the  proprietors  told  me  that  seven-eighths  of  their  trade  are  from  the  Chinese.  They  pay  team- 
sters for  hauling  their  goods  from  Chinese  Camp  to  the  place  where  they  work  from  two  to  four  hun- 
dred dollars  per  month.  There  are  six  American  merchants,  and  two  clothing  stores  kept  by  Jews  in 
Chinese  Camp,  and  several  others  in  the  township.  One  of  the  American  merchants  told  me  that 
seven-eighths  of  his  trade  was  from  Chinese.  The  balance  have  told  me  that  the  full  half,  if  not  more, 
of  theirs  was  from  them.  If  it  were  not  for  the  Chinese  we  would  not  have  one-half  of  the  present 
stage  coaches.  More  than  one-half  of  their  receipts  are  from  Chinese.  So  it  may  well  be  said  that 
they  help  to  enrich  our  mountains  and  our  vallies,  our  farms  and  our  towns.  They  foster  our  trade, 
and  consume  our  products,  and  at  the  present  time  there  is  scarce  a man  amongst  us,  from  the  mer- 
chant to  the  miner,  that  does  not  reap  benefits  either  directly  or  indirectly,  from  them.  Though  many 
amongst  us  cannot  see  their  folly  as  yet,  in  seeking  to  drive  them  out,  yet  the  most  of  the  intelligent 
classes  do  see  it,  and  therefore  sympathise  with  them  in  their  exigencies.  On  the  whole,  probably  the 
tide  of  popular  prejudice  is  ebbing  as  fast  as  it  formerly  flowed  against  the  Chinese  in  the  mines.  I have 
often  been  grieved  to  see  the  poor  fellows  driven  off  their  claims  at  various  places  in  California  by  a 
few  rowdies.  They,  in  most  cases,  were  the  men  who  had  sold  the  Chinese  the  claims  they  were  work- 
ing on,  and  drove  them  off  for  the  sake  of  plunder.  The  law  seldom  took  heed  of  such.  The  Justices 
of  the  Peace,  lest  they  might  loose  the  votes  of  the  rowdies,  when  they  sought  for  office,  seldom  inter- 
fered with  then.  But  they  always  do  now,  so  that  the  lawless  sway  of  vagabonds  has  nearly  terminated, 
through  the  present  improved  state  of  society.  Young  men  now  of  a Sunday  spend  their  time  in 


28 


Church,  which  they  formerly  spent  in  the  fandango . I hope  that  in  a few  years  more,  we  in  the 
mountains  of  California  will  not  be  far  behind  the  more  civilized,  parts  of  the  Christian  world.  A short 
time,  since  when  I was  travelling  for  mv  health,  I observed  that  every  town  throughout  the  mines 
where  there  were  many  Chinese,  had  improved  rapidly.” 

DOMESTIC  INTEREST. 

Our  wives  and  families  have  a very  deep  interest  in  the  presence  and  labors 
of  the  Chinese.  In  a country  where  females  are  yet  few,  and  the  cares  of  large 
households  exhausting  to  their  feeble  strength,  the  aid  of  these  patient,  busy,  eco- 
nomical people,  many  of  whom  have  had  a previous  training  in  various  depart- 
ments of  domestic  drudgery  in  the  houses  of  American,  English,  and  other  foreign 
residents  at  various  ports  along  the  Chinese  coast,  has  been  felt  to  be  a boon. 
And  the  best  influence  that  has  been  exerted  upon  these  strangers  has  been  by 
the  intelligent  and  gentle  women  of  America.  The  grateful  pleasure  cannot  be 
uttered  which  one  feels  in  observing  their  unostentatious  kindness,  the  patient  ef- 
forts to  instruct  in  the  rudiments  of  our  tongue  and  our  knowledge,  and  the 
silent  but  powerful  impressions  for  good  thus  made.  "Womeu,  true  to  the  charac- 
ter of  their  sex,  are  the  best  ministry  that  philanthrophy  and  the  gospel  can  em- 
ploy in  elevating  and  ennobling  the  wanderers  from  a land  of  gloom. 

MISCELLANEOUS  ADVANTAGES. 

This  subject  is  one  so  expanded  and  comprehensive,  that  with  the  barest 
glance  at  only  its  chief  features,  a number  of  interesting  points  must  still  remain 
unnoticed.  The  development  of  the  marine  treasures  of  our  coast  is  one  of 
these.  Valuable  species  of  fish,  precious  shells,  and  other  products  of  the  ocean’s 
shoals  and  shores,  must  lie  always  ungathered  unless  we  can  employ  the  gleaners 
and  divers  from  the  Asiatic  side.  And  so  there  are  other  occupations  that  await 
them,  the  which  time  alone  can  fit  them  for,  and  fully  display  to  us. 

But  I cannot  dwell  further  on  the  numerous  points  of  advantage  spread  before 
us  in  the  immigration  to  this  new  American  territory  of  a race  who  were  civil- 
ized long  previous  to  ourselves,  and  who,  though  now  surpassed  in  some  depart- 
ments of  national  improvement,  yet  in  some  others  are  not  so  much  behind  us  as 
our  superiority  to  a great  portion  of  those  poorer  specimens  that  have  emigrated 
here,  and  the  ignorance  of  the  language  and  character  of  the  rest,  and  as  our 
pride,  would  permit  us  to  acknowledge.  This  much  has  beeu  shown,  from  a 
great  variety  of  facts  and  arguments,  that  the  general  emolument  to  this  State, 
resulting  from  the  Ch  inese  immigration,  cannot  be  counted  within  millions  of  dol- 
lars ; that  every  interest  that  is  important  to  us  as  a people  is  deeply  involved  in 
their  various  labors,  in  humane  treatment  of  them,  and  in  prudent  and  equitable 
legislation  on  matters  affecting  them. 

MORALS  OF  THE  CHINESE. 

The  second  general  class  of  objections  made  in  California  to  the  presence  of 
the  Chinese  is,  the  evil  influence  of  their  morals.  On  this  score,  no  defence  is 
attempted.  The  writer  sees  all  the  pollution,  and  all  the  baseness,  that  must 
characterize  mankind  where  there  is  no  Divine  revelation  to  instruct  and  reform. 
He  knows  what  exists  among  the  Chiuese,  abhors  it,  and  is  often  made  most 
deeply  sensible  of  their  moral  inferiority  to  the  specimens  of  purity  and  excellence 
produced  by  genuine  Christianity.  But  these  considerations  he  may  offer  in  pal- 


29 


liation.  First,  they  are  immeasurably  superior  to  any  other  unchristianized  peo- 
ple whom  he  has  seen,  or  of  whom  he  has  read  ; and  we  must  either  seclude  our 
nation  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  or  else  we  must  rise  above  the  influences  that 
stream  upon  us  for  evil,  from  every  other  kind  of  immigration  as  well  as  from  this. 
Secondly,  that  they  are  not  likely  to  be  allowed  to  immigrate  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  resist  influences  for  their  transformation  ; and  their  vices  should  be  restrained 
and  punished  by  the  arm  of  the  law.  Thirdly,  they  have  been  brought  here,  if 
the  providence  of  God  is  read  aright,  that  they  may  see  Christianity,  and  come  in 
closer  contact  with  its  influences.  Fourthly,  that  the  power  of  our  civilization 
and  our  religion  have  subdued  other  races  far  more  numerous  in  our  midst.  The 
negro  is  the  most  debased  form  of  humauity ; yet  the  number  of  negroes  con- 
verted to  Christianity  is  greater,  proportionably,  than  of  whites,  and  some  of  the 
most  sincere  Christians  in  the  land  have  a black  skin.  The  Indian,  also,  is  slowly 
yielding,  wild  as  beast  of  the  forest  though  he  is  originally.  The  Indian  tribes 
are  abandoning  the  religion  of  their  forefathers ; and,  better  still,  numbers  of 
them  are  exemplary  members  of  evangelical  sects,  whose  missionaries  labor  among 
them.  The  Cherokees,  for  instance,  are  equal  to  some  of  the  whites.  A late 
number  of  a Cherokee  newspaper,  I believe,  contained  an  address  from  one  of 
their  chiefs.  Speaking  of  the  recent  death  of  one  of  their  number,  he  says  : 

“Among  the  earliest  of  his  people  to  learn  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  he  lived 
to  witness  the  great  change  wrought  in  their  condition,  and  left  them  a people 
redeemed  from  barbarous  ignorance,  blest  with  a government  of  written  laws,  with 
its  various  departments  clearly  defined,  and  with  schools  and  churches  and  the 
concomitants  of  civilization.  This  improvement  in  our  condition  has  not  been 
accomplished,  however,  without  expense  of  time  and  means,  and  it  is  our  duty 
to  allow  no  retrograde  to  occur,  but  constantly  to  bear  in  mind  the  truth  con- 
tained in  the  clause  of  the  constitution  which  declares  that  ‘ religion,  morality, 
and  knowledge  are,  being  necessary  to  good  government,  the  preservation  of 
liberty  and  the  happiness  of  mankind.” 

But  there  is  another  consideration,  though  it  be  painful  to  advert  to  it.  Can 
a heathen  people  outshine  a Christian  people?  Look  at  the  licentiousness  and 
vices  that  exist  irrespective  of  the  Chinese.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  their  removal 
would  affect  to  any  sensible  degree  the  tone  of  society  in  this  respect.  And,  again, 
it  is  a shocking,  a revolting  fact,  that  their  most  infamous  places  are  sustained  to 
some  extent  by  abandoned  whites.  Further,  their  better  men  have  opposed  and 
exerted  their  natural  influence  to  have  these  bad  classes  removed  from  the  country) 
but  have  been  actually  hindered  by  fees  to  American  courts.  They  throw  the 
blame  of  the  corruption  of  morals  among  their  own  people  upon  ourselves  ! Let 
any  of  you  read  the  address  last  spring  by  Mr.  Lai  Chun-chuen,  in  behalf  of  the 
Chinese  merchants,  to  Governor  Bigler,  and  judge  if  it  will  not  compare  with 
most  documents  that  emanate  from  a people  that  claim,  and  surely  not  without 
foundation,  principles  of  morality  and  jurisprudence  above  theirs.  The  following 
extracts  exhibit  its  spirit : 

“ It  is  objected  against  us  that  vagabonds  ‘ gather  in  places  and  live  by  gamb- 
ling.’ But  these  collection  of  gamblers,  as  well  as  the  dens  of  infamous  women, 
are  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  China.  These  are  offences  that  admit  of  a clear 
definition.  Our  mercantile  class  have  a universal  contempt  for  such.  But  ob- 
noxious as  they  are,  we  have  no  power  to  drive  them  away  ; and  we  have  often 
wished  these  things  were  prevented,  but  we  have  no  influence  that  can  reach 


80 


them.  We  hope  and  pray  that  your  honorable  country  would  enact  vigorous  laws, 
by  which  these  brothels  and  gambling  places  may  be  broken  up  ; and  thus  worth- 
less fellows  will  be  compelled  to  follow  some  honest  employment ; gamblers  to 
change  their  calling ; and  your  policemen  and  petty  officials  also  be  deprived  of 
opportunities  of  trickery  and  extortion.  Harmony  and  prosperity  would  then 
prevail ; and  the  days  would  await  us  when  each  man  could  find  peace  in  his  own 
sphere  of  duty.  Such  is  the  earnest  desire  of  the  merchants  who  present  this.” 

“ It  is,  we  are  assured,  the  principle  of  your  honorable  country  to  protect  the 
people ; and  it  has  benevolence  to  mankind  at  heart.  Now,  the  natives  of  China, 
or  of  any  strange  country,  have  one  nature.  Ail  consider  that  good  and  evil 
cannot  be  in  unison.  All  nations  are  really  the  same.  Confucius  says  : “Though 
a city  had  but  ten  houses,  there  must  be  some  in  it  honest  and  true.”  Suppose 
then  we  see  it  declared  that  “ the  people  of  the  flowry  land  are  altogether  with- 
out good,”  we  can  not  but  fear  that  the  rulers  do  not  exercise  a liberal  public 
spirit,  and  that  they  defer  their  own  knowledge  of  right  to  an  undue  desire  to 
please  men.” 

The  American  practice  of  receiving^  money  for  the  legal  toleration  of  gamb- 
ling strikes  the  Chinese  with  surprise.  The  question  has  been  asked  us,  “You 
acknowledge  it  to  he  a crime,  by  enacting  laws  forbidding  it,  as  is  done  in  China. 
But  why  has  money  been  received  by  your  city  government,  at  various  times, 
for  its  license  ? Do  you  authorise  wrong,  and  sanction  cheating  ?”  The  Chinese 
nre  greatly  addicted  to  this  vice,  and  succeed  in  ‘ shutting  the  eyes’  of  mand rains 
by  occasional  bribes ; but  it  is  rendered  penal  in  their  laws,  and  is  denounced  in 
their  moral  writings.  Gambling-houses  are  forbidden  by  statue,  and  their  keepers 
liable  to  be  beaten  with  the  bamboo.  If  officers  of  governmec,  the  punishment 
is  increased.  The  penal  code  says,  “ All  persons  convicted  of  gambling,  that  is 
to  say,  playing  at  any  game  of  chance  for  money  or  for  goods  staked,  shall  be 
forfeited  to  the  government.” 

HONOR  IN  PAYING  DEBTS. 

The  remarkable  honor  in  paying  just  debts,  so  often  noticed  by  our  merchants, 
is,  in  one  sense,  a national  characteristic.  In  their  native  land,  every  man  is  ex- 
pected to  have  his  accounts  settled,  or  be  declared  bankrupt,  at  the  close  of  the 
year ; and  it  is  one  leading  object  of  their  association  into  their  voluntary  com- 
panies, to  have  agents  at  San  Francisco  who  shall  prevent  the  return  to  their 
native  land  of  any  in  debt,  either  to  Americans  or  to  each  other.  An  instance  is 
mentioned  of  a Chinaman  who  called  at  a store  to  settle  a bill  of  half  a dollar 
incurred  months  before  by  a friend.  Thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  merchandize 
have  been  trusted  to  the  miners  in  particular  neighborhoods,  with  small  or  no 
loss.  In  conversation  with  merchants  in  the  mountains,  the  frequent  testimony  was 
that  their  pay  is  the  best  pay,  and  their  trade  the  best  trade  in  the  mines.  A 
friend  has  supplied  the  following  communication,  illustrating  pleasantly  their 
mode  of  dealing ; 

“ During  the  years  of  1852  and  ’53, 1 kept  a store  on  the  North  Fork  of  the 
Yuba  river,  and  among  my  customers  were  about  forty  Chinamen.  They  seemed 
to  like  the  location,  as  there  were  sufficient  surface  digging  to  keep  them  em- 
ployed, and  itinerant  Tax  Collectors  not  so  abundant  as  in  some  sections  of  the 
mining  region.  Their  purchases  from  me  amounted  to  from  ten  to  twelve  thou- 
sand dollars  a year. 


31 


“ My  testimony  with  regard  to  the  Chinaman  as  a customer,  in  the  mines,  is  de- 
cidedly in  his  favor,  above  any  and  all  other  classes  of  foreigners  ; and  so  far  as 
honesty  goes,  in  the  way  of  paying  up,  (a  very  material  point  with  those  who  fur- 
nish the  goods  for  consumption,)  even  better  than  that  of  my  own  countrymen. 
For  they  subsist,  mostly,  upon  a vegetable  diet ; yet,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  won- 
derful what  an  amount  of  preserved  meats,  such  as  chickens,  turkey,  oysters,  &c. , 
they  consume.  These  pay  the  trader  a fine  profit,  and  are  not  considered  perishable 
articles.  Again,  they  use  quantities  of  codfish  and  drink  American  brandy  at 
meal  times  as  we  do  coffee.  I always  allow  them  to  have  goods  on  the  credit  sys- 
tem, and  never  lost  one  dollar  thereby.  I kept  a book  wherein  every  one  registered 
his  name,  with  the  amount  he  might  be  owing  for  goods  at  the  time,  and  never 
knew  but  one  solitary  case  where  a ‘ John’  could  not  write  his  own  name ; which 
fact  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  others,  cast  the  poor  fellow  into  utter 
disgrace. 

The  difference  between  the  Chinese  miner  and  the  pale-faced  miner,  is  this  : the 
former  manages  to  live  always  within  his  means  ; the  latter,  too  often,  beyond. 
So  that  the  profit  the  storekeeper  derives  from  his  Chinese  customer  is  apt  to  be  lost 
by  crediting  the  French,  Irish  and  Americans. 

As  an  illustration  of  their  honesty,  I may  mention  that  Ah-Chong,  one  of 
their  number  who  seemed  to  be  looked  up  to  among  those  in  my  neighborhood, 
examined  my  book  every  few  days,  and  if  there  appeared  a name  with  which  he 
was  not  satisfied,  he  would  take  the  account  away  with  him,  find  the  debtor, 
and  procure  the  money.  I have  had  goods  charged  to  as  many  as  thirty  different 
Chinamen  at  one  time — some  owing  to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  dollars — and 
yet,  as  I said  before,  never  lost  one  dollar  by  them. 

In  the  sum  mer  of  1853,  AhChoog  and  others  associated  themselves  together, 
at  my  suggestion,  and  built  a large  flume  of  some  four  hundred  feet  in  length, 
the  river  above  and  below  their  claim  being  owned  by  companies  of  Americans, 
and  their  flume  connecting.  The  flume  built  by  the  Chinese  proved  to  be  a fine 
piece  of  workmanship,  and  was  acknowledged  the  tightest  and  most  durable  of 
any  on  the  river.  It,  however,  was  a bad  speculation  for  all  concerned — the  bed 
of  the  river  wmuld  not  pay  above  three  or  four  dollars  per  day  to  the  hand — yet 
the  Chinese,  with  that  industry  and  perseverance  peculiar  to  the  race,  continued 
to  work  on  their  claim  and  paid  for  the  lumber,  which  they  had  purchased  on  a 
credit,  long  after  the  other  companies  had  abandoned  their  sections  of  the  flume, 
and  betaken  themselves  to  other  parts  of  the  State,  in  arrears  for  lumber  and  other 
articles  used  in  building.” 

But  looking  from  the  list  of  vices,  which  are  always  harder  to  reach  by  legis- 
lation, let  us  observe  the  character  of  the  Chinese  in  California  as  relates  to 
crimes.  In  this  respect  it  may  be  boldly  said,  they  compare  favorably  with  any 
class  of  people  in  California.  Almost  the  only  crime  for  which  they  are  brought 
before  our  Courts,  is  that  of  petty  theft,  committed  by  a few  of  the  most  poor 
and  miserable  creatures  among  them.  Their  timidity — their  disguised  pride — 
their  industry,  and  the  harshness  exercised  towards  them,  prevents  ordinary 
crimes,  which  they  might  otherwise  commit.  No  people  are  so  scrupulous,  for 
the  same  reasons,  in  paying  their  debts.  They  allow  no  poor , though  there  are 
enough  of  them,  to  go  wandering  round  as  beggars.  Nor  do  they  ever  permit 
themselves  to  be  seen  drunk  in  the  streets.  Can  such  testimony  be  borne  in 


82 

behalf  of  any  other  people  in  California,  that  they  have  so  few  beggars,  so  few 
drunkards,  and  so  few  criminals  ? 

They  may  safely  be  compared,  in  these  respects,  with  any  Continental  immi- 
gration to  the  United  States.  There  are  no  complaints  of  hordes  of  paupers  in 
almshouses  and  hospitals,  and  criminals  filling  the  prisons.  The  few  that  do 
apply  at  our  hospitals  find  difficulty  in  obtaining  entrance  or  an  effectual  cure. 
Yet  the  European  immigration  has  advantages  that  overbalance  its  evils,  and 
we  therefore  welcome  it.  Shall  we  expect  any  Asiatic  immigration  to  which  we 
shall  not  also  find  great  objections  ? Certainly  none  less  objectionable  than  the 
Chinese. 

THE  LEGISLATION  NEEDED. 

Justice  to  this  subject,  which  is  as  important  to  the  United  States  bordering 
on  the  Pacific  ocean  as  intercourse  with  Europe  is  to  the  United  States  border- 
ing on  the  Atlantic,  and  its  ramifications  into  every  interest  of  our  people,  and 
into  the  great  future,  demands,  then,  intelligent,  wise,  and  judicious  legislation. 
The  Chinese  are  a people  unaccustomed  to  our  mode  of  government.  Their  laws 
are  old,  few,  and,  on  the  whole,  in  principle  at  least,  just.  Frequent  and  special 
legislative  interferences  gall  them.  Changes  distress  them.  They  become  anx- 
ious, bitter,  and  petulant.  And,  beside,  special  legislation  in  reference  to  any 
class  in  a community  tends  to  degrade  that  class.  It  creates  dangerous  and 
unwise  distinctions.  And  it  throws  stones  in  the  way  of  improvement. 

If  the  views  presented  in  this  Plea  commend  themselves,  gentlemen  of  the 
Legislature,  to  your  judgment  as  reasonable,  your  knowledge  of  the  inodes  in 
which  they  may  be  applied  to  the  present  state  of  affairs  doubtless  leaves  little 
more  for  me  to  say.  When  we  ask  the  sphere  of  legislation,  four  points  may  be 
indicated  as  requiring  their  attention.  1.  The  number  allowed  to  immigrate  to 
this  country  should  not  be  too  great.  We  may  not  be  prepared  to  afford  them 
useful  employment.  They  may  come  in  excess,  and  not  settle  down,  and  assimi- 
late to  our  institutions  and  wants. 

It  is  therefore  the  preference  of  many  judicious  men,  and  not  unreasonable,  to 
allow  for  the  present  the  law  which  fixes  a capitation  tax  to  remain,  provided 
it  is  so  administered  as  not  to  interfere  with  commerce,  and  the  passage  to  and 
fro  of  those  engaged  in  regular  business.  And  judgment  can  only  indicate  future 
duty  from  observation  of  its  results,  or  in  compliance  with  the  future  wants  and 
desires  of  our  own  people. 

2.  The  amount  of  the  license  required  from  miners  deserves  consideration. 
The  amount  fixed  by  the  present  law  is  oppressive.  Few  are  possessed  of  good 
claims.  It  beggars  them.  It  drives  them  to  the  mountains  and  thickets  like  wild 
beasts.  It  fills  them  with  hunger,  sickness  and  despair.  It  turns  them,  what  their 
honorable  character  with  our  trading  population  in  the  country  shows  is  not 
necessary,  into  cheats  and  liars.  It  will  in  time  fill  our  prisons.  And  makes  them 
loathe  and  hate  us  as  a people,  and  our  name,  our  country,  our  government  and 
the  Christian  religion,  which  they  understand  we  profess.  If  put  to  the  former 
standard  of  four  dollars  per  month,  the  sum  affords  a handsome  State  and  County 
revenue,  and  they  appear  willing  to  pay  it.  If  put  lower,  as  some  have  pro- 
posed, there  is  danger  of  new  legislation,  in  two  or  three  years,  to  increase  it 
again. 

This  appears,  after  the  brief  experience  of  a few  months,  to  be  the  opinion  of 


33 


the  people  generally  in  the  mining  districts.  A Foreign  miners’  tax  collector  in 
the  Southern  mines  made  to  the  writer  the  following  statement : 

“ It  is  my  opinion  that  the  A merican  portion  of  this  population  are  not  favorable 
to  the  increase  of  the  foreign  miners’  license  to  six  dollars  per  month,  as  provided  by 
the  law  of  last  winter  ; they  would  prefer  it  to  be  lowered,  as  the  Chinese  cannot 
make  expenses  under  it,  and  they  do  not  desire  them  to  be  driven  away.  In  nine- 
teen cases  out  of  twenty,  I would  almost  say  forty-nine  out  of  fifty,  the  jumping  of  their 
claims  and  other  troubles  are  caused  by  foreigners.  During  four  years  duty  as  tax 
collector  among  them,  I can  testify  to  their  general  industry,  and  express  the  hope 
that  more  equitable  and  lenient  laws  may  be  enacted  in  their  favor.  Unless  the 
tax  is  lowered,  in  two  or  three  years  we  will  have  multitudes  of  them  on  our  hands 
as  paupers.” 

Mr.  S , another  Foreign  miners’  tax  collector,  made  a similar  statement. 

He  said,  “ I think  the  tax  ought  to  be  reduced,  instead  of  being  raised.  It  is 
very  hard  on  them  at  present.  It  ought  to  be  two  dollars  a month.  Then  they 
would  all  cheerfully  pay  it.  Now,  when  they  see  a collector  coming,  they  make 
signals  up  and  down  the  gulches,  and  maybe  most  of  the  men  working  a claim 
will  run  away  and  hide,  leaving  three  or  four  to  save  appearances.” 

The  same  sentiment  was  repeated  on  all  hands  to  the  writer,  in  a late  trip 
through  some  of  the  mining  districts.  And  the  voice  of  the  mountain  press  has 
been  heard  loudly  demanding,  for  the  sake  of  humanity,  and  in  behalf  of  the 
revenues,  whose  loss  was  in  some  places  severely  felt,  that  the  law  of  last  winter 
should  be  repealed,  and  the  license  fixed  at  not  above  four  dollars.  The  follow- 
ing are  quotations  from  some  of  these  papers  : 

The  Calaveras  Chronicle  says:  “ The  effect  of  the  new  License  Law  for  this  people 
is  becoming  apparent  in  our  county.  The  Collectors  at  the  principal  points  state 
that  numbers  are  being  driven  away.  This  subject  should  at  an  early  day  engage 
the  attention  of  the  Legislature.  The  opinion  of  the  press  throughout  the  mining 
region  has  been  fully  expressed,  and  generally  in  favor  of  a reduction  of  the  present 
tax.  The  reduction,  and  the  increase  of  the  income  derived  from  this  source,  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  mountain  counties,  and  consequently  should  be 
regained  by  the  representatives  from  them.  The  immediate  repeal  of  the  amend- 
ment imposing  six  dollars,  and  substituting  one  imposing  three,  would  largely 
increase  the  revenue.” 

The  Marysville  Herald  says  that  the  amount  of  money  collected  in  Yuba  county, 
from  foreign  miners,  for  the  year  commencing  December  loth,  1854,  and  ending 


December  15th,  1855,  was  : 

Total,  exclusive  of  per  centage, $31,670  00 

Add  Sheriff’s  commission 12,896  25 

“ Auditor’s  per  centage, 1,48175 


Total  amount  collected $46,058  00 


A repeal  of  the  increased  foreign  miner’s  tax  law  is  demanded  by  this  paper, 
which  says: — “ The  burden  is  more  than  they  can  bear.  For  several  months 
past,  the  Chinese  in  most  sections  of  the  mines  have  not  averaged  six  dollars  a 
month,  and  if  they  are  required  to  pay  this  to  the  collector,  starvation  is  their 
portion.  Aside  from  the  question  of  humanity,  the  increased  tax  is  causing  a 
depletion  of  the  county  treasuries .” 

3 


34 


The  Coloma  Argus  gives  the  following  as  the  receipts  in  the  treasury  of  that 
county,  from  foreign  miners,  exclusive  of  per-centages  and  the  share  paid  to  the 


State  : 

In  1853, $36,692  57 

“ 1854, 32,806  34 

“ 1855,  (9  months) 24,475  71 


Total, $93,974  62 


It  adds  the  remark  : — “ On  the  1st  October  the  increased  license  tax  went  into 
operation,  since  which  the  monthly  receipts  have  diminished  nearly  one-third,  in 
spite  of  the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  collect.  The  law  of  last  session,  increasing 
the  foreign  miners’  tax,  was  a foolish  piece  of  legislation,  and  ought  to  he  repealed 
immediately.” 

This  I may  add  also,  that  unless  the  rate  of  not  above  four  dollars  a month  is 
determined  upon  by  the  Legislature,  large  numbers  of  the  Chinese  have  their 
minds  made  up  to  return  to  their  own  country.  When  ship-loads  of  them  were 
leaving  in  the  autumn  and  winter,  and  the  mountain  papers  began  to  see  the  evil 
and  express  the  willingness  of  the  people  in  the  mines  to  reduce  the  tax  again,  I 
notified  them  at  once  through  the  Chinese  columns  of  the  Oriental,  and  the  state- 
ment was  spread  abroad  as  widely  as  possible.  They  are  now  awaiting  the  re- 
sult. They  cannot  remain  with  the  present  oppressive  rate  unrelieved.  Nor 
will  one  that  can  help  himself,  engage  in  any  other  occupation  in  a country  whose 
people  they  consider  so  fickle  and  so  despotic. 

3.  The  mode  of  collecting  the  Foreign  miners’  licenses  is  a matter  which  de- 
mands the  attention  of  the  Legislature.  It  is  to  be  feared  there  is  something 
radically  wrong  in  the  present  system.  How  often  do  you  read  of  Chinamen  shot, 
or  stabbed,  or  whipped,  or  stripped  and  searched,  or  maltreated  and  insulted  in 
some  other  way,  by  the  collectors.  How  frequently  do  we  read,  under  the  “ items” 
head  of  our  newspapers,  announcements  like  this  one : “ Three  Chinamen 

Shot. — A Foreign  miners’  tax  collector  of County,  on  Wednesday  last,  shot 

three  Chinamen  who  resisted  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  The  difficulty 
took  place  on  the River.” 

Now  it  is  admitted  that  these  people  are  provokingly  slow  ; are  fearful  and 
suspicious  ; are  cunning  in  evading  the  collector,  and  play  many  tricks  to  worry 
him.  But  have  they  no  excuse  ? Or  further,  if  they  have  none,  are  they  so  dan- 
gerous and  ferocious  ; savages  that  yield  to  no  reason,  and  must  be  dealt  with 
like  furious  beasts  of  the  forest?  Does  the  humane  administration  of  law  not 
extend  west  of  the  American  Desert?  Are  men  to  be  murdered  at  will  by  an 
irresponsible  petty  officer,  for  resisting  a mere  pecuniary  obligation,  and  that  of 
questionable  constitutionality  ? Is  such  an  officer  licensed  to  slaughter  a man 
that  is  not  nimble ; or  because  he  don’t  understand  English ; or  because  he  is  a 
stranger,  and  poor,  and  sick,  and  friendless  ? 

There  are  some  humane  and  right-minded  men  engaged  in  the  collecting  of  the 
licenses.  To  them  we  would  render  all  praise,  and  indeed  peculiar  praise.  But 
the  conduct  of  others,  that  are  monsters  in  human  form,  is  not  unknown  to  you  ; 
their  unjust  and  unauthorized  modes  of  extorting  the  barren  gleanings,  so  hardly 
scratched  out  from  the  rocks  by  these  poor  men  ; their  barbarity  to  those  who 
resist  or  hesitate — often,  if  the  case  were  understood,  for  sufficient  reasons ; and 
again  their  downright  robbery,  though  clad  with  the  honorable  authority  of  offi- 


35 


cers  of  the  State,  by  demanding  payments  for  previous  periods,  by  forcing  an  in- 
dividual in  a camp  to  be  paymaster  for  the  rest,  who  may  be  as  irresponsible  to 
him  as  Patagonians  ; by  distraining,  and  instantly  bidding  off  to  some  miscreant 
of  our  own  color,  their  necessary  tools,  and  their  very  bed-clothing,  and  the  gar- 
ments not  on  their  back.  You  have  heard  of  all  these  things,  so  that  your  teeth 
involuntarily  gritted,  and  your  face  flushed  with  anger  and  shame. 

But  the  worst  is  not  that  bad  men  do  bad  things.  It  is  that  the  system  makes 
bad  men  irresponsible ; it  is  that  the  system  has  no  power,  and  no  provision' 
against  bad  acts.  A Foreign  miners’  tax  collector  may  be  a good  man,  and  be 
honest  and  lenient.  But  his  commission  does  not  hinder  him  from  being  the 
opposite.  It  really  tends  to  make  him  so.  He  may  exercise  fiendish  cruelty,  and 
plead  the  necessity  of  fulfilling  his  duty.  “ I was  sorry  to  have  to  stab  the  poor 
creature ; but  the  law  makes  it  necessary  to  collect  the  tax  ; and  that’s  where  I 
get  my  profit.”  “ He  was  running  away,  and  I shot  to  stop  him.  I did'nt  think 
it  would  hit.”  “ I took  all  the  dust  the  rascal  had.  There  were  seveu  beside 
him.  And  they  did'nt  pay  me  last  month.”  This  outrageous  conduct  is  the 
fault  of  the  system  itself.  And  some  of  our  papers  have  spoken  out  manfully 
against  it.  Notice,  for  instance,  the  remarks  of  the  Nevada  Journal: 

It  says  : “There  is  a species  of  semi-legalized  robbery  perpetrated  upon  them.  Many  of  the 
collectors  are  gentlemen  in  every  sense  of  the  word  ; but  there  are  others  who  take  advantage  of  their 
position  to  extort  the  last  dollar  from  the  poverty-stricken  Chinese.  They  date  licenses  back,  exact 
pay  in  some  instances  for  extra  trouble  in  hunting  up  the  terrified  and  flying  Chinamen,  and,  by  vari- 
ous devices,  fatten  themselves  upon  the  spoils  thus  obtained.  The  complaints  of  the  injured  and  op- 
pressed find  no  open  ear,  for  is  it  not  declared  by  the  Supreme  Court,  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  land, 
that  their  oaths  are  not  to  be  regarded  ? Of  what  avail  are  their  complaints,  uttered  not  with  the 
solemnity  of  an  oath?  Under  this  state  of  things,  the  life  of  the  Chinese  in  California  is  one  of  hard- 
ship and  oppression.  For  the  honor  and  reputation  of  the  national  character,  let  us  either  adopt 
the  rigid  exclusiveness  of  the  Japanese,  or  treat  them  with  the  consideration  due  to  ourselves,  and 
the  kindness  due  to  human  beings.” 

With  such  a system,  it  is  clear  that  a clean  sweep  of  the  worse  class  of  Foreign 
miners’  tax  collectors  would  not  remedy  the  evil.  The  place  depraves  the  man. 
But  there  are  two  things  that  can  be  done.  Firsf,  the  penalties  of  non-payment 
of  the  miner’s  license  may  be  defined,  and  they  may  be  guarded  so  as  to  prevent 
acts  of  brutality  ; to  encourage  men  of  a desirable  character  to  perform  the 
duties  ; and  also  so  as  to  be  a benefit  to  the  region.  Legal  gentlemen  can  readily 
devise  such  penalties.  For  instance,  liability  to  work  upon  the  county  roads,  at 
a certain  rate  per  day,  until  the  demand  of  the  license  is  satisfied. 

Second,  it  seems  almost  equally  necessary  to  constitute  an  office,  or  to  appoint 
an  officer,  to  whom  those  ordinarily  subject  to  the  Foreign  miners’  tax  may  ap- 
peal from  the  collector  in  special  cases,  and  who  may  decide  the  circumstances 
that  warrant  a remission  of  the  tax.  There  are  some  cases  of  exceeding  hard- 
ship arising  from  the  caprices  and  the  covetousness  of  the  collectors.  They 
have  no  rules.  One  told  me  that  he  “ let  old  men,  boys,  packers,  and  sick  people 
go  free.”  There  are  no  definitions,  and  no  real  responsibilities  in  the  whole  mat- 
ter. It  is  mere  spoliation. 

4.  Better  protection  must  be  extended  to  Chinese  residents  generally.  Some 
means  should  be  devised  by  which  the  statements  of  Chinese  should  be  received 
in  regard  to  crimes  affecting  their  lives,  persons,  and  property.  They  do  not 
perhaps  understand  sufficiently  the  nature  of  an  oath  to  be  admitted  in  our  courts 
to  enjoy  an  equal  privilege  with  those  acquainted  with  the  sanctions  of  Christian- 
ity. But  no  other  means  probably  than  receiving  their  affirmation,  allowing  it 


36 


the  credence  that  according  to  internal  evidence  and  the  accompanying  circum- 
stances it  seems  fairly  to  deserve,  will  prevent  degraded  and  outlawed  creatures 
from  robbing,  bruising,  cheating  or  killing  a Chinaman,  when  no  white  witness  '13 
near. 

The  protection  of  the  Chinese  miners  from  marauders  is  vital  to  their  quiet,  and 
to  their  usefulness  to  ourselves.  They  can  have  no  heart  for  industry,  and  no 
respect  for  laws,  where  they  are  plundered  by  night  and  by  day,  by  infamous 
wretches,  who  boldly  rob  a camp  in  the  face  of  a hundred,  if  no  whites  are  pres- 
ent, and  who  have  no  compunctions  in  murdering  even  the  unresisting.  There 
have  been  hundreds  of  such  cases.  An  interior  newspaper  says  of  these  robbers  : 

“ The  Chinamen  in  this  neighborhood  have  been  greatly  annoyed  and  outraged 
by  a band  of  desperate  fellows,  who  have  made  a practice  of  attacking  and  rob- 
bing the  helpless  and  unprotected  creatures  whenever  they  could  find  them  by 
themselves.  To  such  an  extent  has  this  robbing  of  Chinese  been  carried,  that 
the  citizens  made  strenuous  exertions  to  discover  and  arrest  the  rascals,  but  so 
far  unsuccessfully.  The  scoundrels  take  care  that  no  witnesses  shall  be  present 

except  Chinese.  These  outrages  are  tending  to  drive  the  Chinese  from  M , 

and  numbers  are  stopping  at  or  near  D .”  Some  read  like  this  : “ Be- 
tween S and  W are  fourteen  Chinese  camps,  all  of  which  were 

robbed  in  one  night  by  five  men.  On  the  night  following,  they  committed  still 

further  robberies  at  M , at  R— — , at  S , at  B , and  at  F . 

The  entire  amount  which  these  villains  have  succeeded  in  obtaining  in  Y 

is  estimated  at  '$20,000.  They  are  masked,  and  never  disturb  American 
camps.” 

The  licenses  have  been  forged  and  sold,  as  in  a case  which  a friend  mentions 
by  letter,  which  is  one  thing  that  accounts  for  the  fear  of  “ collectors.” 

“ This  last  year  a great  many  spurious  papers  were  passed  on  the  Chinese. 
Quite  a number  of  vagabonds  were  making  a living  by  putting  off  spurious  tax 
receipts,  of  both  mining  tax,  and  poll  and  road  taxes.  I took  a number  of  the  spuri- 
ous papers  up  to  the  sheriff,  but  got  no  satisfaction.  The  practice  is  still  going 
on.  I will  send  you  some  of  these  spurious  papers  next  week.  I heard  an  Irish- 
man a few  days  ago  saying  to  another  vagabond  like  himself,  that  he  ‘ had  no  mo- 
ney to  keep  Christmas  with,  but  went  amongst  the  Chinamen  and  sold  them  to 
the  amount  of  nine  dollars  of  counterfeit  tax  receipts.’  ” 

The  Nevada  Journal  comments  upon  the  treatment  of  the  Chinese  as  follows  : 

“By  the  payment  of  fifty  dollars,  the  Asiatic,  if  not  invited  to  participate  in  the  advantages 
which  California  offers,  is  at  least  supposed  to  be  guarantied  the  protection  of  life  and  property.  But 
such  is  not  the  case.  No  sooner  here  than  a monthly  tax  is  exacted  from  him  in  the  mineral  districts; 
but,  worse  than  all,  he  is  robbed  of  all  power  to  obtain  protection  from  our  laws  by  being  deprived  of 
his  evidence  before  a court  of  justice.  He  is  thus  left  at  the  mercy  of  every  thief  and  cut  throat 
who  chooses  to  extort  from  him  his  hard-earned  gains.  And  such  is  the  prejudice  existing  in  the 
minds  of  Americans  against  the  race,  that  the  two  do  not  labor  generally  in  the  same  locality.  If  a 
Chinese  discover  a rich  deposit,  the  whites  on  some  pretext  drive  him  from  the  fruit  of  his  enterprise 
and  industry,  and  he  is  fain  to  take  up  his  abode  in  some  poor  or  abandoned  district,  away  from  his 
oppressors,  where  he  is  the  prey  of  every  vagabond  who  prefers  a life  of  plunder  to  one  of  honest  toil. 
No  whites  being  near,  there  is  no  competent  evidence  ; robbery  is  practised,  and  there  is  no  redress  in 
the  courts.” 

The  way  in  which  these  shocking  abuses  lead  on  to  murder  and  lynch  law,  and 
scenes  that  make  the  name  of  “ California  ” a fearful  byword  in  the  mouths  of 
millions,  and  terrify  those  that  might  have  come  to  plant  in  our  midst  homes  of 
industry  and  virtue,  is  illustrated  by  an  extract : 


37 

Dr.  Wilkinson  gives,  in  tlie  Auburn  Whig,  the  following  account  of  a horri- 
ble transaction  : 

“On  the  night  of  May  3d,  about  12  o’clock,  a party  of  eight  or  ten  Chinamen,  encamped  on  Shirt 
Tail  Canon,  about  150  yards  above  the  Iowa  Hill  and  Yankee  Jim’s  trail,  were  attacked  by  a party  of 
four  Americans,  when  a scene  of  fiendish  butchery  was  enacted,  which  makes  the  blood  thrill  with 
horror  in  the  narration.  Armed  with  the  noiseless  knife,  these  ruffians  commenced  their  horrid  work 
upon  the  helpless  Asiatics.  Two  of  the  Chinamen  were  killed  on  the  spot,  one  by  a stab  under  the 
left  nipple,  the  other  by  a wound  under  the  diaphragm.  Four  others  were  wounded  : one  stabbed  in 
the  left  temple,  the  knife  striking  the  bone  and  glancing  downward  ; the  second  a little  to  the  right  of 
the  fontanel ; the  third  was  struck  with  a stone  in  the  right  breast,  and  severely,  though  perhaps  not 
fatally  injured  ; the  fourth  was  mangled  in  a most  horrible  manner — one  wound  in  the  breast  reach- 
ing nearly  to  the  navel,  through  which  the  entrails  protruded,  and,  when  found,  the  wretched  crea- 
ture was  holding  them  in  his  hands  ! — another  wound  was  on  the  right  thigh,  just  missing  the  femoral 
muscles  and  cutting  the  thigh  about  one-third  off ! He  was  also  wounded  in  the  left  arm,  and  has 
died.  When  Dr.  Wilkinson  arrived  at  the  scene  of  slaughter,  the  next  morning,  he  found  the  wound- 
ed persons  much  chafed  by  their  coverings.  The  murderers,  after  robbing  the  dead  and  wounded  of 
about  forty  dollars,  fled  up  a steep  bluff  towards  the  Iowa  Hill  trail.  Such  is  the  history  of  this 
devilish  affair,  and  such  will  continue  te  be  weekly  occurrences,  and  the  guilty  parties  be  secure  from 
detection  and  punishment  of  the  law,  and  no  remedy  is  apparent.  The  courts  of  the  land,  knowing 
that  truth  cannot  be  obtained  from  the  Chinese,  have  excluded  their  testimony,  and  as  long  as  no 
white  man  witnesses  the  murder  of  the  Chinaman,  the  murderer  is  safe.  The  onty  hope  we  have  is, 
that  the  popular  courts  of  the  divide  may  find  some  satisfactory  clue  to  the  perpetrators  of  this  trag- 
edy, and  punish  them  in  their  own  summary  manner.” 

Mercy,  justice,  order,  the  name  of  our  State,  all  the  considerations  affecting 
our  prosperity,  our  quiet,  our  honor,  appeal  to  you  to  prevent  these  crimes  1 

RELATIONS  OF  THE  SUBJECT. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Legislature : This  plea  has  kid  before  you  a few  of  the 
facts  relating  to  this  great  subject,  and  a few  of  its  bearings  upon  ourselves,  and 
yet  a very  few,  and  only  in  a brief  and  merely  suggestive  form. 

To  you  as  statesmen  its  intelligent  and  serious  consideration  is  a matter  of 
great  importance.  A few  years  ago  the  Union  was  divided  into  the  North  and 
the  South.  Now  it  is  divided  into  the  North,  the  South,  and  the  West. 
Though  those  two  portions  of  the  Atlantic  States  can  scarcely  realize  that  ten 
years  have  put  the  several  States  on  the  Pacific  coast  in  a position  of  influence 
which  it  required  them  ten  scores  of  years,  generations  of  men,  and  rivers  of 
blood,  and  stupendous  labors  and  expenditures,  to  occupy;  yet  it  is  none  the  less 
true.  The  gold  of  California  has  sustained  the  commercial  credit  of  the  Union. 
It  has  saved  shaking  fortunes ; it  has  comforted  millions  of  pining  eyes  and 
hoary  heads  ; it  has  filled  the  world  with  fleet  and  hurrying  ships.  Yellow  gold, 
the  crop  of  this  soil,  is  as  essential  now  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Union  as  the 
wheat  of  the  North,  and  as  the  cotton  of  the  South  ; and  we’ll  balance  our  bars 
against  either  the  sheaf  or  the  bale. 

And  in  the  external  relations  of  our  tripartite  Union,  not  less  than  those 
properly  internal,  we  hold  as  honorable  a place.  History  will  look  back  and 
discern  the  mission  of  the  New  Continent,  found  in  the  end  of  time.  The  North 
with  its  ten  thousand  ships,  running  in  weekly  scores  to  all  the  ports  from  Mar- 
seilles to  St.  Petersburgh,  and  with  its  line  of  four  thousand  miles  conterminous 
with  the  French  and  British  populations  of  Canada,  and  with  its  steam  presses, 
telegraphs,  and  millions  of  newspapers  and  books,  which  despotisms  in  vain 
endeavor  to  exclude  or  mangle,  has  its  charge.  The  South,  with  its  three  mill- 
ions of  sable  pupils,  has  its  charge.  A continent  is  given  to  each!  And  when 
at  length  America  is  prepared,  another,  and  the  last  and  greatest  continent,  is 


added  to  her  Heaven-ordained  trust : and  the  West  also  has  its  charge.  Asia,  moth- 
er of  the  human  race ! whose  surface  is  one-fourth  larger  than  the  two  Americas 
conjoined;  whose  shore-line  is  a fifth  more  extended  than  that  of  any  other  conti- 
nent; whose  populations  sum  the  half  of  human  kind;  where  alone  history,  and 
where  art,  and  where  revelation,  resided  until  past  the  mediaeval  era  of  our  race; 
the  scene  of  perhaps  the  greatest  events  of  coming  time, — to  us,  we  tremble 
while  we  speak  it,  to  us,  Asia  is  committed.  No  sooner  do  we  buy  and  colonize 
this  soil,  but  her  sons  begin  to  come  with  outstretched  hands. 

And  further,  gentlemen,  circumstances  of  amazing  interest  are  crowding  round 
us  rapidly.  We  find  now  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  at  length  united  at  several 
points  in  Central  America.  Anc  fiive  different  lines  have  been  surveyed,  and  a na- 
tional railroad  virtually  determined  upon,  which  shall,  throughout  its  whole 
length  in  republican  territory, and  in  a straight  line,  and  the  shortest,  connect 
the  great  commercial  interests  >f  the  two  Oceans. 

Humboldt  says,  “ The  problen  of  the  communication  between  the  two  seas  is  im- 
portant to  all  civilized  Europe  At  a time  when  the  new  continent,  profiting  by 
the  misfortunes  and  perpetual  dissensions  of  Europe,  advances  rapidly  towards 
civilization,  and  when  the  conmerce  of  China,  and  the  Northwest  coast  of 
America,  becomes  of  greater  importance,  this  subject  is  of  the  greatest  interest 
for  the  balance  of  commerce  am  the  political  preponderance)  of  nations .”  l;  Should 
a canal  communication  be  opoed  between  the  two  oceans,  the  productions  of 
Nootka  Sound,  (fur,  oils,  &0  and  of  China,  will  be  brought  more  than  two 
thousand  leagues  nearer  to  Firope  and  the  United  States.  Then  only  can  any 
great  change  be  effected  in  tb  political  state  of  Eastern  Asia ; for  this  neck  of 
land,  the  barrier  against  te  waves  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  has  been  for  many 
ages  the  bulwark  of  the  indpendence  of  China  and  Japan.” 

And  I cannot  but  here  acert  to  the  political  fatuity  of  some  who  describe,  in 
glowing  language,  the  resuk  of  the  gigantic  plans  which  are  to  link  the  sides  of 
the  continent  and  then  conect  these  opposite  continents,  by  steam,  and  talk  of 
the  “ riches  of  the  Indies;’tnd  who  yet  spurn  and  crush  the  first  ambassadors 
which  the  Indies  send  us,  <en  though,  like  the  Gibeonites,  they  have  “ old  shoes 
and  clouted  upon  their  fe<>  and  old  garments  upon  them,  and  all  the  bread  of 
their  provision  was  dry  at  mouldy,” — men  who  see  that  in  a seuse  we  shall  pos- 
sess the  earth,  and  have  cue  to  make  a league  with  us,  and  lay  their  possessions 
at  our  feet.  The  Cliinesare  a reading,  thinking  people  ; who  tell,  and  who  put 
on  record  what  they  low.  Some  may  despise  the  influence  of  those  who 
come  to  California,  ut  even  now  among  the  men  nearest  the  Imperial 
throne  are  those  who  a sought  on  account  of  their  previous  intercourse  with  for- 
eigners. Poor  boys  edated  at  missionary  schools  have  been  taken  into  the  confi- 
dence of  the  ministers  (date.  It  is  folly,  it  is  insanity,  to  think,  however  men  may 
reason  or  protest  to  t contrary,  that  the  impressions  of  America  received  here 
will  not,  to  a large  dece,  shape  the  whole  future  intercourse  of  the  nations  who 
are  now  for  the  first  te  saluting  each  other. 

And  it  is  of  great  ^sequence  for  us  to  mark  the  beginning  of  things.  A late 
letter  from  Hongkoniays : 

“ The  heretofore  creasing  China  emigration,  and  consequent  commerce  to 
San  Francisco,  hashed  toward  Australia.  With  a little  encouragement,  our 
commerce  with  Chi  would  soon  become  great,  and  steadily  increase  ; but  if  the 
tide  is  not  turned  t'Ur  shores  in  its  incipiency,  so  much  are  these  people  ad- 
dicted to  follow  th<ourse  of  their  ancestors,  that  it  will  be  hard  to  change  the 
current  in  after  yet 


39 


Since  the  beginning  of  the  troubles  in  China,  the  Chinese  have  commenced 
traveling  by  steam,  and  now  prefer  it  to  any  other  mode. 

Two  native  firms  have  an  interest  in  steamers  on  the  Canton  river,  and  others 
are  preparing  to  increase  the  number.  Eight  steamers  now  ply  on  the  said  river, 
and  five  more  are  soon  to  be  added.  Much  of  the  Chinese  travel  between  this 
and  Singapore,  and  also  between  this  and  Shnnghae,  is  by  steamers ; and  I feel 
confident  that  a line  of  steamers  from  this  port  to  San  Francisco,  would  find  it  a 
profitable  business,  (if  it  were  to  carry  Chinese  freight  and  passengers  alone,)  and 
that  foreigners  in  all  China  and  the  East  Indies,  instead  of  traveling  to  Europe 
via  Egypt,  would  take  the  route  via  California.” 

And  we  may  be  sure  that  if  we  reject  the  opportunities  offered  to  us,  others 
will  not.  One  of  the  most  experienced  men  in  India  said  on  the  occasion  of  the 
annexation  of  Burmah,  that  it  was  but  one  step  further  towards  England's  pos- 
session of  Asia,  from  the  Yellow  Sea  to  Ceylon.  The  Chinese  respect  the  digni- 
ty and  equity  of  British  jurisdiction,  as  illustrated  at  Hongkong.  An  intelligent 
Chinaman  said  to  me  in  this  city,  “ Why  do  not  the  English  take  poi session  of 
the  Province  of  Canton?  We  are  tired  of  the  Tartars.  We  are  tired  of  weak- 
ness and  rebellion  and  piracy.  Many  of  my  countrymen  say  they  wish  the  Eng- 
lish would  take  the  control  of  affairs.”  But  see  how  we  fling  away  our  dower ! 

Tne  spread  of  the  Chinese  race,  going  on  in  an  astonishing  manner  within  a 
few  years,  over  the  whole  globe,  makes  it  of  incalculable  importance  to  improve 
our  opportunity.  But  it  becomes  us,  in  whose  hands  are  the  interests  of  this 
Western  shore,  to  notice  the  changes  now  going  on  in  the  Pacific  world..  Not 
only  are  Australia  and  California  suddenly  filled  with  the  strange  race  whose 
laws  a few  years  ago  impeded  their  emigration;  but  the  same  Almighty  hand  that 
3eems  to  be  changing  the  face  of  the  whole  world,  and  shifting,  for  some  great, 
though  yet  unseen  end,  its  nations,  is  leading  to  the  numerous  and  beautiful  archi- 
pelagoes in  its  ocean,  colonies  from  the  old  and  withering  Empire  on  its  Western 
shore.  The  Sandwich  Islands,  the  group  nearest  to  our  country,  most  important 
to  our  whaling  interest  in  the  Pacific,  lying  so  directly  on  the  route  to  China 
that  clippers  pass  in  sight  of  them  without  stopping,  and  whose  people  have  most 
deeply  awakened  the  sympathies  aud  prayers  of  the  Christians  of  America,  is  now 
in  the  process  of  being  occupied  by  Chinese.  On  the  one  hand  we  see  it  gradually 
being  depopulated  by  diseases,  and  intercourse  with  whites.  Dr.  Hildebrand  in  are- 
port  to  the  Agricultural  Society  says  : “The  Hawaiian  nation,  which,  seventy  years 
ago,  was  estimated  variously  at  from  200,000  to  400,000,  now  only  counts  70,000,  a 
decrease  within  this  period  of  two-thirds.  Vast  tracts  of  lands  do  not  harbor  a 
human  soul ; fertile  kalo  lands,  once  under  cultivation,  are  left  to  the  rule  of  grass 
and  weeds.  The  Island  of  Kauai,  remarkable  for  the  productiveness  of  its  soil, 
and  capable  to  sustain  a population  of  one  hundred  thousand,  contaius  only  six 
thousand.”  Were  this  to  continue,  it  must  become  a desert.  But  we  see  on  the 
other  hand  the  only  Asiatic  race  capable  of  withstanding  the  pressure  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  of  working  by  its  side,  already  led  by  an  invisible  power  to  oc- 
cupy their  place.  There  are  at  present  five  or  six  hundred  residing  at  the  Islands. 
About  three  hundred  are  at  Honolulu ; the  remainder  are  scattered  in  small  com- 
munities, probably  the  largest  numbers  being  at  Maui  and  Lahaina.  Some  have 
been  there  a number  of  years,  married  Kanaka  wives,  and  live  at  their  ease.  There 
are  several  enterprising  Chinese  at  Honolulu,  who  do  quite  a considerable  trade. 
The  principal  firm  has  amassed  a fortune  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Another  that 
is  also  wealthy,  has  five  or  six  branches  in  the  other  Islands,  one  of  which  is  at 
Maui,  and  another  at  Lahaina.  And  there  are  some  sixteen  other  stores  and  shops 


40 


of  various  kinds  in  the  place.  A few  of  the  goods  sold  by  them  are  imported  from 
China ; but  the  largest  quantity  is  obtaiued  from  California.  These  consist 
chiefly  of  articles  suitable  for  the  use  of  the  seamen  of  the  whaling  fleets  and 
clothing  for  the  natives. 

Several  Chinese  commenced  plantations  for  the  cultivation  of  sugar.  These 
employ  Chinese  overseers  and  operators,  who  boil  the  sugar,  and  perform  the 
more  difficult  parts  of  the  labor.  But  they  prefer  natives  for  other  work,  as  they 
can  be  employed  more  cheaply.  But  a few  years  must  pass  before  the  former  soft 
and  thriftless  people  shall  have  wholly  disappeared,  and  their  places  be  filled  by 
the  hardier  and  more  valuable  race  from  the  continent  of  Asia.  And  so  shall  it 
be  with  all  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  The  races  that  inhabited  them  for  a time 
are  dying,  like  the  aborigines  of  this  continent.  We  cannot  populate  them.  Eu- 
rope cannot,  and  will  not  be  allowed  to  populate  them.  Who  shall  till  their 
garden  soils,  and  pluck  their  luscious  fruits,  and  dive  for  their  pearls,  and  hew 
their  spicy  woods,  and  make  them  hospitable  caravanserais  of  the  sea?  No  an- 
swer need  be  given  to  those  who  have  observed  how  the  people  of  China  are  now 
settling  every  group,  and  how  the  few  whites  are  anxiously  inviting  them  to  come. 

But,  gentlemen,  had  this  subject  not  possessed  a moral  aspect  of  the  sublimest 
importance,  I would  not  have  felt  it  to  be  my  calling  to  utter  a word  upon  it. 
I should  have  quietly  continued  my  work  of  “ preaching  the  gospel  to  the  poor,” 
did  I not  feel  that  work  to  be  fearfully  embarrassed,  and  its  success  among  the 
Chinese  postponed,  by  the  wretched  condition  to  which  they  are  brought  in  this 
“ Christian  ” land.  I can  scarce  hope  for  success  as  a minister  of  the  gospel  in 
leading  them  to  adore  our  God,  or  love  our  Savior,  so  long  as  the  present  state 
of  things  continues. 

But  I look  beyond  this  dark  and  stormy  time.  If  you  will  hear : well.  If 
you  will  not,  I commit  the  matter,  undoubting  and  in  peace,  to  the  Almighty 
Ruler  of  nations  and  men.  Whether  any  agree  or  disagree  with  the  views  I have 
expressed, — and  no  doubt  in  many  things  I am  mistaken, — may  we  each  act  in 
the  fear  of  Him.  And  when  the  affairs  of  empires  and  individuals  shall  all  have 
been  settled,  each  shall  receive  according  to  his  work. 

And,  gentlemen — if  you  will  excuse  the  seriousness  of  the  parting  thought — it 
is  a blessed  thing,  for  which  we  all  may  feel  thankful,  that  neither  our  laws  nor 
labors,  nor  other  aid,  are.  materially  necessary  to  the  great  progress  of  humanity  ; 
and  further,  that  our  littleness,  and  selfishness,  and  folly,  and  wrong,  even  when 
we  think  we  are  right,  are  no  lasting  or  great  obstruction.  We  may  look  con- 
fidently to  the  regeneration  of  China,  and  of  the  whole  continent  of  Asia,  wheth- 
er as  individuals  or  a generation  we  have  a share  or  not.  The  soil  iu  whose 
heart  Eden  was  planted  shall  be  an  Eden  again,  to  its  utmost  seas.  The  conti- 
nent in  whose  centre  the  race  of  man  was  created,  on  whose  Western  extreme 
the  San  of  God  in  his  humiliation  made  atonement  for  man’s  sins,  shall  perhaps  on 
its  Eastern  shores  display  the  widest  and  most  glorious  triumphs  of  His  exaltation. 
Asia  was  the  seat  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Father  through  the  law  and  the  proph- 
ets; Europe  has  been  that  in  which  the  manifestation  of  the  incarnate  Son  has 
been  chiefly  published  and  believed  ; and  America  seems  in  the  history  of  redemp- 
tion reserved  for  the  scene  of  the  great  promised  outpourings  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
sprinkling  drops  of  which  already  it  has  at  times  enjoyed.  And  though  now, 
therefore,  America  and  California  may  not  understand  their  calling,  that  day 
comes  when  our  land,  and  when  the  State  of  which  we  are  citizens,  shall  be  a 
blessing  to  all  within  their  borders,  and  shall  be  blessed  and  honorable  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world. 


